Star Wars - Unbound Fate
by kevmascolcha
Summary: Kev-Mas Colcha was an Emperor's Hand bound to serve his master against his will... until said master died over Endor. Now, Kev-Mas has found himself under attack by the very Empire he served loyally for over twenty years before as it erupts into chaos and in-fighting. In this story he teams up with friends both new and old to escape and discover that his story is only beginning...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Severed Connections

 **Colcha Landing, 500 Republica, Imperial Center**

 **39:3:5 (4 ABY)**

 **2322 hours**

A long wailing scream on a familiar face, attached to a body that was seen falling to it's doom into a deep chasm as a maelstrom of force energy surrounded him. Kev-Mas Colcha, Emperor's Hand was bound to protect this individual. This individual was the Emperor and the most powerful man in the known galaxy, but Kev-Mas was bound to serve against his will. So while these visions did cause Kev-Mas to stir from his sleep, curiously he was not compelled to act.

He was not, because the man whose will he was bound by to serve the Emperor WAS the Emperor. The Emperor who had just died hours before he received this vision in the Force. A vision that was delayed for reasons unbeknownst to the loyal servant, cause after all the Force works in mysterious ways.

However moments later the sounds of several explosions echoing across the city awoke Kev-Mas. News of what happened in the Battle of Endor had reached its Capitol, and countless citizens became dissidents, wreaking havoc in the city center. However, the only news Kev-Mas had to go off of was the vision he had just received, and he was clueless as to what it meant.

Moments later Kev-Mas heard another explosion at his door, as a small group of stormtroopers broke into his apartment. "Stang! Why couldn't they just knock?!" mumbled Colcha under his breath as his cybernetic eyes scanned the apartment in search of the intruders, switching between infrared and normal vision modes.

It was times like this that Kev-Mas was thankful that he slept with his clothes on in case of emergency, complete with armor and everything. Locating the intruders, Kev-Mas grabbed his lightsaber and went to confront them. "You know, you could've just knocked…" he said to the troopers as he ignited his lightsaber. He still wasn't aware of the fact that they were here to kill him or why they were, but they broke into his home and he wasn't going to take any chances.

"It's him! Blast him!" yelled one of the stormtroopers as he fired his E-11 at Kev-Mas, a bolt that was reflected back into his helmet, snapping his neck with the force of the blow. As the Stormtroopers began to take formation surrounding the Dark Jedi, Kev-Mas moved quickly to defend himself. He threw his lightsaber with an immense amount of force in a circle around him, cleaving the remaining 5 stormtroopers in two with incredible ease.

As the weapon landed back in his hands and he deactivated the blade, Kev-Mas attempted to open a channel to any nearby Forces. He got no response. "That's weird…" he thought, looking at the window seeing a sea of fire in the streets below, "but I guess given the situation at hand it's not too weird. They're probably just… busy."

Just then, Kev-Mas felt a presence in the Force. This presence was a very antagonizing one. It felt cold; bitter, harsh. Whoever it was they were not friendly, and they were approaching quickly.

"Hm…" Kev-Mas mused, turning on the holonet transceiver built into his cybernetic implants, "Seems like the Empire isn't as united as I thought it was."

"Rebel uprisings have erupted across the Galaxy. They are believed to have been linked to unconfirmed news of the Death of the Emperor and Lord Vader at the Battle of Endor reach the masses. The Empire denies any such claims, and urges all civilians to remain calm and return to their homes or face arrest…"

"Or not," he continued as he shut off the transceiver. Kev-Mas knew how Imperial Intelligence worked, having worked FOR them on several occasions. This news was true, and quite obviously such news would cause several systems to fall out of line and Imperial Intelligence was trying to silence them in reaction to it. However, that still didn't explain why a squad of Stormtroopers came after him, which was most likely linked to the Dark Side presence he felt getting very close. The presence which he was quite certain responsible for the approaching footsteps he was hearing.

"I take it you're responsible for this mess?" Kev-Mas called out to the presence as he approached.

"Oh yes, I do apologize about that Mister Colcha, and I will send a team to clean it up as soon as possible. It's just a pity you won't live to see it to completion…" was the reply from the approaching figure, adorned in the ornate robes of the Imperial Inquisition.

"Are you threatening me, Inquisitor?" replied Kev-Mas, igniting his lightsaber once more and falling into his unique lightsaber stance, based off of both Juyo and Djem So forms.

Now Kev-Mas knew one thing for sure: the Inquisition wanted Kev-Mas dead, either because they saw him as a risk to inherit the newly vacated throne, or because they knew something he didn't…

"By the name of the Imperial High Council, you are under arrest for crimes against the Empire," recited the Inquisitor, in a judicious and pompous tone. As he ignited his lightsaber, you could almost smell the bureaucracy reeking from his mouth. "Stand down and your death will be humane," he continued, slipping into a classical Makashi salute.

"There are no crimes and you know it," replied Kev-Mas with a determined look on his face, lunging forwards towards the Inquisitor, "You only fear my chances of claiming the throne."

"I never took you for the talkative type…" replied the Inquisitor as he parried Kev-Mas' blow and sent him flying with a burst of telekinetic energy, sending Kev-Mas flying into a structural column, cracking it on impact, "I see the talisman the Emperor planted in you has indeed failed after death."

"I guess you've got something in common with it then," retorted Kev-Mas, uprooting the column and hurling it at the Inquisitor with the Force.

"Your loyalty to the Empire is as fragile as your chances of victory," replied the Inquisitor, catching the column with his own telekinetic powers, "surrender now and your death will be quick and painless."

Kev-Mas then let out an ear piercing roar, shattering the fragile column to pieces and sending shrapnel flying at the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor leaped out of the way, but only to be met mid-air by Kev-Mas with a falling leaf technique, slashing from the air above him, in an attempt to crush him under his own weight. Makashi wasn't known for its strength, rather focusing on finesse and agility, and the sheer force under Kev-Mas' attack was unavoidable.

The Inquisitor used a Force Push to distance himself from the attack and fall into a blade lock. "I thought the Inquisitors were known for their combat prowess," chuckled Kev-Mas jeeringly, "Apparently I was either wrong, or you're one pathetic excuse for an Inquisitor."

The inquisitor snarled as he aimed a kick at Kev-Mas, which he deflected with his own, sending him flying towards a nearby window. "I'm quite insulted, really. I would've expected the Empire to send a more capable opponent to dispatch me."

Speechless and quivering in fear, the Inquisitor dropped his weapon then fell back scuttling towards the window. "On your feet, you miserable whelp," commanded Kev-Mas, approaching quickly, "there is no honor in a mercy killing."

"I bet you're not even here on official business, are you?" continued Kev-Mas, swinging his lightsaber at the window, shattering it.

"That's none of your concern," mumbled the Inquisitor, rising to his feet.

"Speak up," shouted Kev-Mas in order to be heard over the rushing Coruscanti winds coming through the high rise window, "I can't hear you over the sound of your impending doom."

"RAAAAAGH!" yelled the Inquisitor, belting out a torrent of electrical Force Energy at Kev-Mas, which he then blocked and absorbed with his lightsaber, absorbing the Force Energy for himself.

"Like I said, impending doom," Kev-Mas added, sending an even stronger burst of electrical Force Energy back at the Inquisitor, sending him flying out the open window to his death.

"I don't even want the throne…" muttered Kev-Mas, reaching over to grab the lightsaber that was left behind, "politics irritate me."

Dusting himself off, Kev-Mas then made his way to his private hangar where his ship awaited him. Knowing full well that the Empire would likely send more men after him, he needed to get away immediately. His ship had a cloaking device, and it would most definitely come in handy.

After exiting the turbolift into his private hangar bay he sensed another presence upon approaching his ship. This one seemed smaller, but it was very likely they were attempting to mask their presence. Either way, Kev-Mas had to move quickly. Dashing up towards the boarding ramp, he was confronted by a tall, white haired man departing from it, gripping what appeared to be a walking stave.

"Going somewhere, Mister Colcha?" the man threatened with a smirk.

"Who are you and how did you get on my ship?" deflected Kev-Mas.

The man ignited a crimson lightsaber blade from the stave, and slipped into a combat stance Kev-Mas hadn't seen anyone else use in over 5 years… not since his days as a Shadow Guard.

"The name's Vincent. How I got on your ship doesn't matter, just know that I'm going to take it."

Kev-Mas ignited his own lightsaber and slipped into a Juyo salute.

"Shadow Guard eh? Takes me back to the old days. Back when I was still a tool of the Emperor." said Kev-Mas, lunging at Vincent.

Something seemed off though. Kev-Mas always made attempts to reach out telepathically to his opponents in battle as a means of gaining a tactical upper hand, but when he reached out to Vincent he seemed to be shrouded with an aura of uncertainty. Almost as if he was second guessing himself every step of the way.

"You too eh? It's a shame I'm gonna have to kill a former comrade then," retorted Vincent with a jeer, parrying the blow.

Thinking quickly, Kev-Mas realized that while he could use this to his advantage to defeat him in battle, he realized that there was an alternate option that would serve him far better in the long run. What if this former comrade of his could help him?

"It doesn't have to be that way, you know," replied Kev-Mas, stepping to the side and twirling his blade, "I could use some help escaping the Empire, and I don't think you've got it in you to keep on fighting for it."

"Why would that be?" questioned Vincent patiently, holding his pike at the ready.

"I'm pretty sure that after the Emperor killed off most of our brothers in the Shadow Guards that the last thing you want to do is keep on serving in his legacy when you have a way out of it." reasoned Kev-Mas, standing his ground.

"What if I just want to go at it alone?" replied Vincent, pointing his pike closer.

"Because I know for a fact you're not stupid," Kev-Mas countered, sending a burst of force energy at Vincent, causing him to stumble a little bit but not lose balance, "You got into my ship. That's not something any idiot could do."

"And I could really use someone with your particular skills and abilities," he continued, disengaging his lightsaber and extending a hand as a friendly gesture.

"Ehhh if you put it that way, I guess…" shrugged Vincent, disengaging his lightsaber and grabbing Kev-Mas' hand, who then helped him to his feet, "but if you try anything you're dead."

 _ **Wraith,**_ **cloaked in high atmosphere**

 **Imperial Center**

 **39:3:6 (4 ABY)**

 **0116 hours**

Kev-Mas and Vincent stood over the conference room briefing table, flanked by several officers adorned in standard issue Imperial uniform.

"Alright men, here's the situation" said Kev-Mas as he addressed them, "In case you haven't been paying attention to the holonet—which by the way, I don't suggest you try until we figure out a way to access it discretely, the Empire wants me dead. And consequently, I'm going to offer you a choice as well. Either you stay here aboard the Wraith and help me escape… or you die."

Fortunately for Kev-Mas, not only did he still have the perfect ship to escape a planet swarming with former allies who wanted him dead, the crew was still very much on his side. They knew the situation but they had been through so much together and his fine crew had sworn their allegiance to their Commander first, and the Empire second. So when that Empire had turned against their Kev-Mas, where their allegiances had stood was without question.

"Sir, we have indeed seen the news, but we're not blind pawns of the Empire," replied one of the officers in the room. He was a muscular, gruff looking man with gaunt features. He had a scar across his left eye and was showing clear signs of age, with his graying salt and pepper colored hair and wrinkled brow; it was obvious that this man had quite the extensive service record. "We know you better than anyone else in the Empire and we trust your judgment. If the Empire wants you dead, we want no part of that Empire. Our allegiance first and foremost, is to you."

As he declared his allegiance, the rest nodded affirmatively.

"Thank you Captain Tersil. I didn't have a doubt in my mind that you would all make the right choice," replied Kev-Mas, "I'm glad to still have you all with me. I couldn't do this without your continued service."

"Sorry to break up the party going on here," interjected Vincent, "but we should probably come up with a plan of action."

"Apologies, you're right." Kev-Mas nodded in reply. He waved his hand in front of his right temple and a holographic display popped up on the table in front of them. "So here's the situation. Comscan has given us a rough indication as to the fleet makeup in orbit above us. As to be expected for Imperial Center, it's big. However, due to recent events it is bigger than it normally is, and I'm pretty sure the planet is under a lockdown because of it."

"We are cloaked," replied Vincent, "However, once I and the other inquisitor don't report back, the empire will immediately suspect something is amiss."

"And they'll send bounty hunters on our trail," answered another crew member. This crew member was dressed in a black officer uniform, indicating that he was a member of the Stormtrooper corps. He had sun scorched skin and black hair trimmed to Imperial standards with neatly trimmed mutton chop sideburns.

"Exactly, Captain Vosk, Vincent," affirmed Kev-Mas, "But it doesn't have to be that way. We're going to feign death, and I know exactly how. They won't bother chasing after an enemy they believe to have already killed."

"Consider me intrigued," replied a female figure. This figure was tall and slender with shoulder length platinum blonde hair dressed in a red Imperial Intelligence officer's uniform. "But is it tactically sound?"

"As far as my experience and knowledge of Imperial tactics, it most definitely is," answered Kev-Mas, who again waved his hand in front of his right temple, replacing the existing image with a larger image of the _Wraith_. Kev-Mas pointed to the image, and began to elaborate.

"The first step of the plan, is obviously to decloak and engage the enemy for a short time," he began as the image changed to another one, "after that, we will need to end up in a missile targeting lock. I will attempt to slow the missile with the Force as we re cloak, then use the Force to cause it to explode and increase the size and intensity of said explosion. This will create an illusion that the missile had hit the ship and caused it to explode."

"You're out of your kriffing mind," replied Vincent calmly, "There would be no debris, we'd need something further."

"What would you suggest, Vincent" inquired Kev-Mas.

"Isn't there a corvette of the same class as yours in the fleet?" began Vincent, "If so, we could do a mind meld to combine our powers, and use it to convince it to disembark towards the planet and convince the Imperial Battlegroup that it is us. Then most likely the ship will be destroyed above the planet and all debris will burn up upon reentry into the atmosphere."

"Clever… and we'll escape without a fight." mused Kev-Mas, "But first we need to see if such a ship is present. Lieutenant Gossen, do you detect one on your scanners?"

"Let's see…" replied the female intelligence officer dressed in red, "Yes we do sir, the _Crimson Lance_ at vector 259-1716."

"Excellent," smiled Kev-Mas, "Let's do this…"

Moments later, Kev-Mas and Vincent sat aboard the bridge of the cloaked ship. The bridge was reminiscent of that of a Star Destroyer, only much smaller. The crew stood inside a trench area below Kev-Mas and Vincent who were deep in meditation atop a small observation platform in front of the viewport. They concentrated deeply and reached out to both the captain of the _Crimson Lance_ and the commander of the battlegroup with the Force, weaving their deception in an attempt to make their escape, and then slowly slipped out of the trance.

As they did, they were interrupted by Lieutenant Gossen.

"Sirs, everything appears to be going according to plan. The _Crimson Lance_ is moving towards high atmosphere and the fleet is moving to engage it."

"Good. Break through into high orbit and prepare a jump to the Utapau system, but do not jump until scanners have detected the destruction of the _Lance_ ," ordered Kev-Mas, as both he and Vincent rose to their feet.

"Aye sir," replied Gossen.

"Hyperspace coordinates locked in and ready," were the words that chimed in from Captain Tersil, the ship's chief navigation officer.

"Uhh... why Utapau?" asked Vincent.

"I'm getting reports that the Empire has lost control of the planet. We'll seek asylum there in exchange for valuable intelligence data from the Empire."

With that, they got their signal to make the jump to hyperspace. "Sir, the _Crimson Lance_ has been destroyed in high atmosphere. It worked." informed Lieutenant Gossen.

"Captain Tersil, punch it." Kev-Mas ordered.

"Affirmative, Commander," nodded Tersil as the ship lurched forward into the blue sea of hyperspace.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Holed Up

 _ **Wraith,**_ **cloaked**

 **Utapau system**

 **39:3:6 (4 ABY)**

 **0900 hours**

Utapau: sinkhole planet, site of one of the final battles of the Clone Wars, and the most recent planet to free itself from the grip of the Empire. It would be understandable that entering this system in a former Imperial starship still possessing Imperial transponder codes would be suicide. That is, unless said ship could not be seen. Needless to say, the Wraith remained cloaked, and would remain that way until the technicians sliced the ship a new transponder code with no affiliations or ties to any governing body.

Garivald Tersil stood on the bridge overlooking the crewmen who were working diligently. Kev-Mas was in his quarters resting from the mind meld and command fell upon the shoulders of his first officer – that being Captain Tersil.

"What's the status on that transponder code, Lieutenant Gossen?"

Chanda Gossen was the chief intelligence officer onboard the ship and as such all tasks relating to any sort of covert operations, be it infiltration, reconnaissance or in this case slicing, she was in charge of overseeing them.

"They are underway sir, but the computations will take time to complete."

"That's time we don't exactly have," replied Tersil, crouching over to take a look at one of the viewscreens himself, "The Empire provided this ship with the cloaking device and it's likely that they can still detect it even while it is cloaked. Is there anything we can— "

Just then the viewscreen he was peering at blinked and the progress bar jumped to completion.

"What just happened?"

"Apologies for the interruption sirs, but I just corrected some errors in the computation algorithm and enhanced it's efficiency," chimed in one of the technicians, "The new transponder code should be ready to go."

"Most excellent," replied Lieutenant Gossen.

"What is your name Crewman?" asked Tersil.

"I thought we were only recognized by designation numbers sir?"

"We're not an Imperial Vessel anymore and you're still human. We now refer to each other by the names we were born with."

"Oh...well in that case sir, my name is Coralan. Dak Coralan."

Tersil nodded and then continued.

"Gossen, prepare the new transponder code for activation. I need to give a status report to Commander Colcha."

Tersil pressed a button on a console and opened a com channel to Kev-Mas' quarters.

"Commander Colcha, the new transponder code has been created and is ready for activation at your behest. Also, if I might add, if it were not for the exceptional talent of one of our technicians we might not have finished it for another week."

The com message had awoken Kev-Mas from his slumber, and he groggily arose to reply to it.

"I'll be up shortly to activate the transponder personally. Make sure to point out to me the technician responsible for your success when I get there."

"Yes sir," replied Tersil, and Kev-Mas discontinued the com channel thereafter.

As Kev-Mas walked down the hallways to the turbolift, he mused that he could place this technician in a new position as the chief electronics warfare officer. While the Empire didn't have such a specialization in their protocols, but this ship wasn't an imperial ship anymore and focus in that area would be needed in their current situation.

Exiting the turbolift onto the bridge, Kev-Mas took over command from his first officer.

"Tersil, who might this technician be?"

"Crewman Coralan," Tersil replied, motioning him to approach.

"Well congratulations, Ensign Coralan. You're now our chief electronics warfare officer."

"Chief electronics warfare officer?" questioned Lieutenant Gossen, presenting a slightly confused look on her face.

"We're not an Imperial vessel anymore. We don't follow imperial protocol when it comes to running this ship. His new command still classifies as an intelligence based role, which is why he still will serve directly under you, but our new mission parameters necessitates an expanded focus on electronic warfare that he will be in charge of."

"Aye sir. Sorry, I'm still not used to this sudden disconnection from the Empire. It's still fresh."

"I don't believe you're alone in that Lieutenant. I think we all feel that way, myself included. But the Empire left me no choice but to cut my ties, and quite frankly I now have no idea why I would've stayed in the first place."

"What do you mean, Commander?" interrupted Tersil.

"Oh… it's a long story, full of those sorcerous ways that always give you the creeps," replied Kev-Mas as Tersil winced at that last part.

"Either way, Ensign Coralan are you ready for your first task in your new post?"

"Ready when you are Commander."

"Activate the transponder code. Designate the ship as the _Close Call_."

"On it!"

"Lieutenant Gossen, once the transponder code is active and in working order I want you to decloak and open a com channel to the local planetary government of Utapau. If we're going to negotiate a deal with them, we can't just sneak in and expect to get anywhere."

"Tersil, bring us into standard orbit above the planet's surface."

Moments later, a tall gaunt near-Human appeared on the screen.

"I'm sorry but Utapau is not taking any visitors at the moment. We're still recovering from our losses encountered retaking the planet from the Empire and need time to rebuild our cities to their former glory."

"With all due respects," replied Kev-Mas, "we did not come here for sightseeing. We're recent defectors from the Empire and we came here to seek asylum, in exchange for some valuable imperial intelligence data that could help defend against a counterattack."

"And if such a counterattack was to happen? Would you help our cause?"

"It would be to the detriment of the both of us if we were to idly stand by and let it happen. Our ship and crew will do what we can to assist you."

"Thank you so much sir, and apologies for the less than warm reception. Please allow us to escort your ship to the spaceport on Pau City… well… what's left of it anyways."

Kev-Mas cut the com connection and shortly after a squadron of grey hulled starfighters moved in position around the _Wraith_ to escort it to the planet's surface.

"Tersil, follow our escort to our designated landing zone."

Tersil nodded and passed on the orders to the pilots who then brought the ship forward to follow it's escort.

As the ship made it's way down, Kev-Mas opened a com to Vincent's room to update him of the situation. Vincent had also taken the opportunity to rest from the mind meld, but unlike Kev-Mas was not distracted by command duties and was allowed to sleep undisturbed.

"Vincent, we have made contact with the Utapauns and they have agreed to grant us asylum in exchange for vital intelligence and our assistance in repelling any future Imperial counterattacks."

"So we're freedom fighters now? That wasn't part of the initial plan..."

"Technically, we've been freedom fighters ever since we started running from the Empire. The only difference here is that we're fighting for our freedom with the mutual assistance of another party."

"Technically we're renegades but your point still stands, let me know when we're landed."

"The ship is approaching Pau City Spaceport at the moment with an escort of Porax-38s. When we arrive I will inform you."

Coming in for a landing in Pau City, the devastation seen through the ship's viewport was extensive. Several structures inside the sinkhole city had been crushed by collapses of the cavities and caverns they were built into and smoke was billowing everywhere. The Utapauns had paid a high price for their planet's freedom.

Breaking through a cloud of smoke on it's approach to the starport, the squad leader of the fighter squadron escorting them opened a com channel to the _Wraith_.

" _Close Call_ , you are free to land in docking bay 49. Have a nice day and thank you for your assistance."

With that, the fighters dispersed and the _Wraith_ 's pilots guided it to a landing in the designated hangar bay.

"Crew, stay onboard and await further instruction," ordered Kev-Mas, making his way to the turbolift, "Tersil, you have the bridge until I return."

Taking the turbolift down to the lower deck he opened a com channel to Vincent, this time on his personal comlink attached to his cybernetic implants.

"Vincent, we have arrived. Meet me in the cargo bay near the exit ramp."

"Affirmative." replied Vincent.

Arriving at the loading ramp, Kev-Mas waited for a minute before Vincent came walking in.

"Come on, they're waiting for us out there," stated Kev-Mas before lowering the ramp and starting down it.

"Greetings, travelers and welcome to our remote sanctuary," stated a tall gaunt figure with a menacing appearance. He spoke in a hushed voice with a sophisticated accent and was clothed in elaborate zeyd-cloth robes.

Walking forward with a cane to support him, he motioned towards Kev-Mas and Vincent to follow him.

"The name is Tion Medon, by the way. I am the port administrator of Pau City."

"Pleased to meet you Administrator Medon, I'm Kev-Mas Colcha."

"Name's Vincent. The pleasure is mine."

"Just Vincent?" asked the administrator looking towards Vincent, with a hint of curiosity in his tone of voice.

"I was abducted as an infant, given a designation and a rank." explained Vincent, "I only have this name because I fought to earn it."

The administrator questioned further, "What did you do to earn it?"

"By fulfilling its meaning," he replied calmly as he crossed his arms, "I am he who conquers."

"Forgive me for all the questions, but what led you to defect from the Empire?" asked the administrator.

"Lack of competent leadership after the death of the former, namely," replied Kev-Mas.

"So it is true then, the Emperor really is dead," replied the Pau'an Port Administrator.

"Yes, as well as the death of Lord Vader," replied Vincent, "But if you weren't sure that the rumors were true, how did you know to start your revolt?"

"That wasn't our main motivation actually. What encouraged us was when the Empire pulled forces away from the planet a couple days ago."

"Yes, to assist the fleets in action over Sullust and Endor most likely," mused Kev-Mas.

"You seem to know a lot about this, were you a high ranking officer?" questioned Administrator Medon.

"Oh you have no idea..." replied Vincent holding a slight chuckle under his breath.

"Please do explain, what do you mean?"

"We weren't just officers," began Kev-Mas, "See, Vincent here was an Inquisitor and myself? I was the Emperor's Hand."

Vincent raised his eyebrow at Kev-Mas. Obviously he did not understand the necessity to reveal of such information, but Kev-Mas just ignored it and carried on.

"You held such power in the Empire, yet you gave it all up and now risk your lives for your freedom… why?" asked Tion.

"Truth be told, I had no choice," answered Kev-Mas, "soon after the Emperor and Lord Vader perished at the Battle of Endor, I woke up to get attacked by an Inquisitor and his detachment of Stormtroopers who wanted me dead. Vincent on the other hand…"

"Let me answer with a question," the white haired man replied. "I take you, and others like you under my wing. I feed and train you. You serve me with pride, you serve me well. You form bonds with your brothers and sisters in arms, and then one day I choose you, and one or two others to be elevated into higher service, but the others vanish. Gone. Only later you learn that they were slaughtered, murdered, killed in cold blood by others in my charge. Would you despite all the training, all the indoctrination, still hold loyalty to me, even though it was I who gave you house, home, and purpose?"

"Well then," mused Tion, his glossy black eyes widening, "I guess that's as good an explanation as any. I admire your sense of honor. I feel you'd do good work here."

"Vincent, Kev-Mas," addressed Tion as they came upon a base camp of sorts, directing attention towards a short stocky being with tan skin wearing a military uniform, "I'd like you to meet High General Vant. He fought against the Confederacy in the Clone Wars and is now the commander of our resistance forces. He's looking forward to going over the intelligence data you will be giving us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," spoke General Vant in a coarse, gruff voice, "Do you have the data you promised?"

"It's right here," said Kev-Mas handing him a datapad, "The information included is extensive. Military tactics, rules of engagement, schematics to various technology… you name it."

"Thank you, I'll have my techs run it over. You have offered a tremendous service to us and most definitely will prove to be a great assistance in the situation that there is a counterattack."

"You spoke too soon High General," interjected Tion, "I've just received word that Imperial Star Destroyers were spotted at the edge of the system."

"Which means an invasion force is imminent," replied the General, "Get the refugees to safety while I prepare our forces for battle."

"I'll contact my ship and have them deploy fighters and troops to assist you the best we can," offered Kev-Mas.

"How many troops have you got?" asked General Vant.

"200 of them, General. 200 former Stormtroopers from the elite 716th Havoc Company at your service."

"Most excellent, thank you Mister Colcha."

Kev-Mas then turned to Vincent, "Looks like we can't seem to catch a break at all, can we?"

"No, but it is good to face your enemies head on, especially when they won't see it coming," replied Vincent with a smirk, "The more action, the better."

"I like the way you think..." smiled Kev-Mas as he tapped his right temple to open a com channel to the _Wraith_.

"Wraith, it looks like we're going to see action after all. Deploy the _Reverie_ and fighters and depart for high orbit."

"Orders acknowledged commander," replied Captain Tersil, "I had actually just seen the fleet enter the system on comscan and I was about to com you to ask about it."

Moments later the _Wraith_ could be seen from the camp, then suddenly disappearing as the cloaking device enveloped it.

"Was that a cloaking device?!" interjected an aghast General Vant.

"Yes," answered Kev-Mas with a grin, "And you'll find we have a few more surprises as well..."

"Yes," Vincent added quietly. "We're full of surprises."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Fire in the Hole

 **Pau City, Utapau**

 **Utapau System**

 **39:3:6 (4 ABY)**

 **1210 hours**

"Alright men," said Kev-Mas briefing his troops that just landed on the surface in the _Reverie_. "We're going to partially split up to cover more ground. The 1048th _Snake Eyes_ squadron will accompany Vincent on marksman duty, while the remaining 3 squadrons will accompany me on infantry operations. Our overall goal is to ensure that the enemy forces cover as little ground as possible. We have full knowledge of how Imperial invasion procedures are done. Lets use that to our advantage and get a little creative. Fall out of the protocols you know and love and start fighting dirty like Rebel scum. This planet's unique landscape offers an incredible amount of cover, and I suggest we take advantage of it. Use your jump packs as often as possible, jumping from one point of cover to another to cover as much ground as possible. Also, make sure to take advantage of the element of surprise involved with us being here as much as possible. Let them come to us, and use ambush tactics effectively. Vincent, now explain the plan for your team."

"We're going to deploy to a large sinkhole in sector B. It houses a large city, as well as many hangars and ports for civilian and military vessels. It is going to be a target of opportunity very quickly." He motioned to a holographic display that the general was kind enough to allow him to use. "Considering terrain and what they learned from The Clone Wars they will come in with IDTs not full on landing craft. What does that mean for us? No shields." He pointed at his squad, "E-11s' are going to punch right through their rear hull armor. Now our goal is to disable their engines. The hulls will survive the impact, but what is inside will be killed on impact, but the craft should be salvageable." He looked towards Kev-Mas, "We need to think about salvage in this regard, we don't have an Empire of resources behind us now."

"Excellent point, Vincent," nodded Kev-Mas, "This way we can also help supplement the Utapau Skyforce in the very likely event they are invaded again. Vincent and his team will take speeder bikes to their location while the other three squads and I will take the _Reverie_. We'll drop each squadron at different strategic locations, while the last one will stay along the _Reverie_ to drop in to surprise the enemy troops right after they've landed. Today marks our first fight as free men cut loose from the shackles of the Empire. Let's give 'em hell!"

The troopers cheered heartily, and then moments later Vincent and his men were seen speeding off on speeder bikes, Kev-Mas sending them off with a salute. Shortly after, Kev-Mas' troops boarded the _Reverie_ and departed as well.

Before moving off Vincent directed his team to a separate comm frequency to avoid cross chatter and moved off towards the sinkhole. "When we arrive," he commed over the wind moving past, "You will spread out evenly around the perimeter of the hole. I'll take up a position to deal with any who manage to actually land." They kicked up the repulsors, pushed out past the edge of the sinkhole and began circling around, one by one a trooper broke off, finding a sniper hole and taking up position. Vincent for his part landed on the main central hangar, and took up position midway back, out of view of any incoming craft till it was well within the landing zone. Now, they just had to wait.

Coming upon their insertion point the first squad, the 2012th _Venomtongue_ squadron jumped from the craft, descending to the surface with their jump packs. While the comms were separated between Vincent's and Kev-Mas' men, they both were coordinating through a centralized point - that being the Utapau Sky Force at Pau City.

Inform the Sky Force that the first squadron has been inserted at their strategic location and are setting up fortifications as we speak. With that, they sped off towards the second insertion point and then immediately dropped the second squad, the 1598th Widow squadron.

"Alright _Viper_ squad, we're going to cloak and lay low until their first landing craft is in," ordered Kev-Mas, "Ambush is our primary objective, however we may be needed to assist at Pau City."

It didn't take long before a loud crack filled the air around them and the air seemed to rush by even more. High above them the sky lit afire, as a Victory Star Destroyer broke orbit into a rapid assault incline. Vincent felt it, in the Force and in his bones. They were desperate. There were enough forces in orbit to give them a run for their money and they were so concerned with not taking the planet that they sacrificed what small margin of superiority they had to blockade rush an assault ship into low orbit. Holding his hand up to his comm he shifted to the command frequency. "If they stick to doctrine, we can expect short range bombardment bursts at key command structures. If evacuations haven't finished to secondary facilities, you have less than two minutes."

"Roger that, Commander Vincent," replied General Vant over command frequency.

Kev-Mas, noticing the Vic Star enter the atmosphere acted quickly, "Sky Force this is Commander Colcha. I would suggest you coordinate with the _Wraith_ and it's fighter complement and move in to assault that _Victory_ -class. Bring 2 _Dreadnaught_ -class Heavy Cruisers and a couple fighter squadrons. The _Wraith_ will act as a picket ship to provide additional defense against TIE fighters, while the complement of TIE Hunters will make bombing runs to disable the shields. We will come along to pick up some of your men to accompany the squadron left on my dropship for an assault to seize control."

"Commander Colcha, with all due respect we're stretched thin already conducting evacuation procedures," was the reply from General Vant, "We can provide the ships you need, but our troops are not available."

"Good enough. I'll pick up reinforcements from the _Wraith_ then," conceded Kev-Mas.

With that, all accompanying ships approached the invading Vic Star on attack vectors, and the _Reverie_ still with the cloak running, docked on the _Wraith_.

Descending down the landing ramp of the _Reverie_ , Kev-Mas then opened a comm to Captain Vosk. "Captain Vosk, I'm sure you're well aware of our plan to assault the Vic Star that just entered the planet's atmosphere. Take 4 squadrons and meet me in the hangar bay by the _Reverie_. I'm going to need you to lead this assault. I will rendezvous with you on your approach to the ship. I'll be taking my fighter and leading the squadron in fighter defense and assault operations."

"I'm already one step ahead of you Commander," said the Captain as he entered the cargo bay, clad in Black Shadow Stormtrooper Armor with a mixed assortment of Shadow and normal Stormtroopers behind him.

"I see your intuition serves you well, Brinlon," mused Kev-Mas, "Take advantage of those instincts. The Empire may not have liked you to use it, but we're not restricted by those rules anymore. It will prove to be most effective."

With that, Kev-Mas walked over to his TIE, grabbed a flight helmet and entered via the entry ladder.

Starting up the Twin Ion Engines of the fighter craft, it came to life, the thrust trace dampers limiting the normal muffling wail sound of the engines into a low hum. With the push of a throttle, Kev-Mas departed the open cargo bay, moving to accompany the 6 more cloaked TIE Hunters on intercept vectors, then de cloaking to engage the enemy TIEs that have been launched to dispatch the assault force.

"Colcha, this is Vincent." The Echani commed as he watched the star destroyer fire on the command center. The ground shook and dust kicked up from the surface filtered down into the holes. "If you hurry, you may be able to enter the main hangar under cloak as they deploy dropships. There is a central power junction that runs past the aft port quarter of the hangar. A few good torpedo strikes would disable the shields long enough for your landing forces to get inside." The ground shook again as another structure that belonged to the Sky Force command was targeted, "You will need to hurry however, their shields will only be down for so long."

"Acknowledged, thank you Vincent," replied Kev-Mas. "Alright, all wings cloak and disengage. We're going in sooner than we anticipated. _Reverie_ , fly up close to the entrance to the Hangar bay while we move in to disable the shields long enough for us to make an entrance. There's a central power junction that runs past the aft port quarter of the hangar. We need to hit that with a few good torpedo strikes then the shields should be disabled long enough for the _Reverie_ and I to make an entrance."

With that, the 7 TIE Hunters disengaged the enemy TIEs and re-cloaked, leaving them in confusion and disarray. Moments later, they came out of their cloak and fired a barrage at the central power junction, with Kev-Mas' ship immediately re-cloaking and entering the Hangar bay alongside the _Reverie_ and the 6 other TIEs moving to advance the enemy TIEs again.

"Alright _Reverie_ ," commed Kev-Mas, "We need to clear a landing. Let's light 'em up!"

Immediately after that, the two ships de-cloaked and opened a barrage of laser fire at the enemy troops that had rushed into the hangar bay to greet them, then finally setting down for a landing. As the ships landed, more troops rushed in to greet the troops swarming out of the _Reverie_ , and Kev-Mas leapt in the air with the Force out of the cockpit of his fighter to greet them head on, cleaving 4 of them in two with a throw of his lightsaber, catching it as he descended to the ground.

Vincent watched as the Chaos ensued, the entirety of the Empire's doctrine on warfare was that it held the high ground, it held the technological superiority, it held the ability to instill fear. By turning that around on them they scattered, the TIE fighters broke ranks and ran, some to try and gain distance, others to avoid enemies that weren't actually there, that was the power of the cloak. Within the shade of the landing bay he watched the dropships sway and turn, an order to return had been issued. He could hear it, in his mind, the panic of the commanding officer of the Victory ordering his troops back.

" _We've got boarders_ ," he would yell. The ships rotated, showing their aft quarters to the ground and, _crack._ A red bolt snapped out from the edge of the sinkhole and struck an engine housing, the craft sputtered smoke, inverted and began a dive. _Crack_ , another this time striking a craft in close proximity to a second, it veered to the port, slamming into the other and sending them both into a spiral. One by one bolts shot out from the snipers entrenched in the rock walls and one by one the one-half dozen dropships trailed smoke and fire as they spiraled down onto the surface of Utapau.

"Vincent to Colcha. Any reinforcements that may have come back have been dealt with. I'll…" He paused, as another comm signal came in, "I'll… send these men to clean up any survivors… Vincent out."

Kev-Mas received the comm from Vincent just as he finished off the last enemy Stormtrooper in the hangar bay with a burst of electrical Force energy. "Acknowledged Vincent, thank you. Coordinate with the infantry squadrons we've got on the surface as well to outnumber them… just another classic Imperial battle strategy we're turning against them today."

With that, Kev-Mas looked towards Brinlon Vosk with his cybernetic eyes. "Captain Vosk, it's good to see you made it. The recalled troop transports have been shot down by Commander Vincent and the troops on the surface are moving in to wipe out any survivors. They still outnumber us by a small amount onboard the ship, but we possess better training than the standard rank and file Imperial troops."

Kev-Mas then pointed his still engaged lightsaber towards the turbolift in front of them.

"Let's move forward, press the advantage and split up to cover more ground. Vosk, you take 3 squadrons and distract enemy troops while I take the remaining two and storm the bridge. Once we're making our final approach, I want you to move to assist as soon as you can. Today the Empire shall pay dearly for their betrayal!"

Vincent acknowledged Kev-Mas' response but then went off comms. The entire ride from the sinkhole to the area of the crashes Vincent was silent, finger to his ear. He was talking, but not on any of the comms of the Wraith and its forces were using. One trooper noted it seemed as though he was issuing orders of some sort, but couldn't make out what he was saying. The trooper, discreetly as possible, sent a communication to Kev-Mas via datalink, expressing his concern for this sudden turn. Colcha's forces did not have reason to trust the Echani yet, and this did nothing but add to that suspicion.

While in the turbolift ascending to the command deck, Kev-Mas received the datalink from the trooper. With a sigh Kev-Mas replied with another datalink stating the following:

" _You need not worry about Commander Vincent. His assessment of the situation is a valid one and you still outnumber him. If he does indeed move against us or the mission objectives, you have full permission to engage him."_

After that, Kev-Mas opened a comm to General Vant and issued him the same orders he had given to Vincent.

"Understood, Commander," was his reply as Kev-Mas and his troops arrived on the command deck.

"It's the invaders! Blast em!" was the greeting they received from the enemy Stormtroopers awaiting their arrival. With a clenched fist, Kev-Mas then grabbed the welcoming trooper with the force by the throat as the two groups of Stormtroopers fired upon each other.

"Shhhhhh….." hushed Kev-Mas mockingly, "Not so loud, you'll ruin the surprise!"

When they arrived at edge of the crash sites Vincent seemed to be more focused with the task at hand. Climbing off his speeder bike he walked towards the first dropship, the other troopers kept their distance, and he could feel their distrust. He ignored it as he reached out, grabbed the hatch door with the force and yanked it off, tossing it off to the side. "Prime target for a concussion grenade right there."

"Aaarrrgggghh!" screamed an enemy Stormtrooper as Kev-Mas used the force to combust the chestplate of his armor, leaving him to erupt into a ball of flame. Terrified of the ghastly sight, the remaining troopers began to flee. What training they did possess, none could have prepared them to face the terrors of the Dark Side of the Force.

Responding to the tactical advantage that had been opened up, Kev-Mas' troops had fired back upon the fleeing forces with well placed shots to their hamstrings. Tripping from the impact, Kev-Mas let loose a torrent of electrical force energy at them as they attempted to crawl away.

Kev-Mas then took a moment to motivate his troops. "Let their screams give you strength. It shall be a reminder of how feeble their attempts to defend this ship from our ensuing onslaught shall be. Victory WILL be ours!"

Vincent continued to walk through the wreckage, pulling off hatches as the Troopers tossed in concussion grenades to finish off anything that might have survived the crash. It was perhaps not glorious, or even honorable, but this was survival. When they reached the last ship Vincent held up a hand calling the Troopers to stop. "Something is… wrong…"

At about that moment, the pods hatch erupted off. Vincent side stepped as it flew past where he was, then just as quickly raised a hand and caught the hatch in the Force before it slammed into two of the snipers. Turning back to the ship to watch a figure rise from the smoke. They were cloaked in black armor, and a robe that concealed their face, but the ringed object in their hand was unmistakable.

"Sister…" Vincent spat out.

"Brother," a voice replied, distorted by it's helmet. "We heard you had died on Coruscant… so glad it isn't true. Now I get to kill you myself."

"You can try… but first. You dropped something." Slinging his hand forward he launched the hatch back at the figure, who deftly left out of the way igniting her saber as she came crashing down on Vincent's position, his blade rising to meet hers. "That wasn't nice."

"Clearly you've never met me…"

Back onboard the Star Destroyer Kev-Mas' comm chimed to life, Vincent's voice could be heard over the sound of a lightsabers hum. " _Colcha, they have an Inquisitor. And you know what they say about my former order…"_

The two then spoke over each other in unison. "There are always two."

Kev-Mas however did not let this revelation distract him from his objective. It was essential to the success of the mission, and Kev-Mas knew that Vincent could handle himself against the Inquisitor. All troops in the 716th Havoc Company were trained effectively in handling Jedi and other Force Users due to their original mission objective, and Inquisitors were no different. If push came to shove, they would be of great help to Vincent and provide him with the upper hand.

Moving forwards through the command deck of the Star Destroyer, Kev-Mas signaled the other troops of his to gather on him.

"Captain Vosk, I've arrived on the command deck and have eliminated the first group of troops to greet us. Form on my position as soon as possible."

"Affirmative Commander, we're enroute effective immediately."

Walking up towards the bridge it was unusually quiet however, and it didn't sit right at all in Kev-Mas' mind. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

The Troopers had opted to give the two dueling a wide berth, as the Inquisitor advanced on Vincent, using her lightsabers unique spinning quality in wide arcs as the Echani seemed to dance around it, landing physical blows between her wild swinging. "Stop moving!" The Inquisitor cried out in frustration.

"Stop thinking like an Inquisitor." He replied as he ducked low under an overhead wing, came up, curled his arm around hers and brought up a knee into her elbow. There was a loud crack as the bones dislocated. Her saber fluttered from her hand, deactivating, and tearing up Vincent's cloak and sand as it did so.

"Damn you!" She cursed shoving him away with her one good arm, giving Vincent free time to pull her saber to his free hand.

"Empire damned me long ago Sister, when they stole me from my world, and made me some tool for death and mayhem." He clipped her saber to his belt as she stumbled to maintain her footing.

"Don't give me some pathetic story," She spat, bits of blood hitting the sand, as it dripped out her faceplate. "You were an Inquisitor; you were our Brother. Now you're nothing but a traitor!"

"No. I was a _Shadow Guard_ I was _their Brother_. Then the likes of you came through and slaughtered the only concept of family I knew." He pointed his saber at her, the crimson blade so close that her hood began to curl and singe. "You cannot betray, that which is not loyal to its servants."

Vincent had neglected to turn off his comlink, so the entire exchange was broadcasted to him. Upon hearing it, Kev-Mas immediately knew that he had placed his trust in the right person. Vincent seemed to hold a strong personal code centered upon honor and loyalty, but the Empire was known to deceive and play tricks and he knew that. He was no friend of the Empire, but he certainly was a friend of his.

However, Kev-Mas' mind had wandered too far and he had allowed it to distract him from the task at hand, and as he came upon the final approach to the bridge him and his troops were surrounded in three directions by enemy Stormtroopers.

"We have you now, traitorous scum!" said the Imperial Officer leading them.

"Really now?" replied Kev-Mas as he reached out with the force and put up a protective bubble around him and his troops, then reached out to one of the troopers' thermal detonators, and caused it to explode.

The detonator exploded, engulfing the one of the groups in flame and incinerating them. Kev-Mas let down the protective bubble and the remaining troops and Kev-Mas' forces engaged each other while Kev-Mas grabbed the Officer with the Force.

"The Crimson Dagger is not defeated so easily… These eyes will be the last sight you see, much like any other enemies of the Emperor I have faced in the past."

Vincent's triumph over the Inquisitor was cut short as an explosion filled the sky above Utapau, from the looks of it, and the sense of dread coming from the locals, it was one of their ships. "See… even your victory over me means nothing…" She huffed for air, a rib Vincent likely dislocated in a punch having probably punctured a lung.

"We'll see." He lowered her saber, and turned to walk away. The troopers around them looked to one another in confusion, then raised their rifles when they heard the woman cry out and lunged forward, but they were not fast enough.

The hilt in Vincent's hand clicked, and sprang out, elongating from a large saber hilt to a full sized saber-pike as he spun, dropping down to one knee, letting the blade rise through the air. A sound that was reminiscent of a bantha steak on a grill top was heard for a brief moment, followed by the accompanying smell as the Inquisitors body slumped, to it's knees and fell to the ground, the head landing several feet and rolling into a and-drift.

Rising up to his feet Vincent stuck the end of his pike in the ground and held a finger to his ear. "Vincent to _Reverie_ , if you've offloaded your teams we could use a pickup to assist in the capture operation."

"Acknowledged Commander Vincent, the _Reverie_ is inbound to your location," replied the pilot of the ship which was still cloaked and hovering around the _Victory_ -class Star Destroyer that it had just offloaded Kev-Mas and his troops upon.

The ship then disembarked and left to meet Vincent and his troops down on the surface.

Meanwhile, on the Star Destroyer, Kev-Mas and his forces were in the middle of a heavy firefight, when Captain Vosk showed up with the remaining squadrons, effectively pinning the enemy forces. The remaining forces raised their hands in surrender and Kev-Mas' forces ceased firing.

"We have taken the brig before we came here, should we take them there?" asked Vosk.

"Yes Captain, they shall be taken as prisoners and interrogated for information," replied Kev-Mas as they advanced towards the bridge, "Have a squadron take them there while we take the bridge."

"Sir, the blast doors to the bridge is sealed," stated Vosk as they tried to open it.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," replied Kev-Mas sarcastically, "But they won't be for long."

Kev-Mas raised a fist at the door, and it exploded in a ball of flame. The smoke created a small amount of cover as his forces entered the bridge and began to open fire upon the crew. Kev-Mas then held the Captain still using the Force, making sure that he would be alive. He likely possessed valuable information and Kev-Mas intended to get it from him.

Vincent stood in the deployment bay, one hand on his deactivated pike, the other on a handle by the door. The _Reverie_ swung around in the bay and the hatch lowered, allowing Vincent to step down on the deck followed by the squad of troopers. Vincent felt back in his element, like a Shadow Guard commanding a squad of Shadow Troopers, he felt almost at home for the first time since the Guard had been disbanded.

He raised his hand and motioned for the squad to break into two teams, flanking him as they entered the central corridor. "We're going to assist in taking the engine room. This ship will be the first of many in a fleet to take on those who would dare betray our loyalty." A door opened, and they came face to face with another squad of troopers, these belonging to the ships contingency.

Vincent stepped forward, and low, his pike igniting in angry read as he swung it in a wide arc, taking out several of the troopers in one go as his team opened fire in the confusion, mowing the others down. Rising up, he stepped over the severed arm of one and continued forward. "Expect more, they'll know we're coming."

"Looks like this ship is most definitely ours now," Kev-Mas thought to himself as he felt Vincent's presence come aboard the Star Destroyer.

With a swing of his lightsaber Kev-Mas lopped off the heads of two crewman that lunged at him. He then let loose a torrent of electrical force energy at two more, as his troops finished off the rest.

Looking to the captain who he had placed in force stasis, he issued a command to Vosk. "Captain Vosk, put him in binders and take a squadron to escort him to the brig. I'll be in to interrogate him personally shortly."

Kev-Mas then commed Vincent, "Commander Vincent, we have just taken the bridge and captured the Captain. Do you need any assistance?"

"No, but unless you have dealt with a second Inquisitor, we have another onboard. Somewhere." The Echani and his Squad marched into a large turbolift, and began the descent to the power levels. "If you have someone skilled enough, begin shutting down access from remote locations of the ship. We do not want them taking over, or shutting us out of overriding a shutdown sequence."

The lift door opened, too a trooper firing a rpg into it. Vincent held up a hand and caught the rocket in midair. Looking to the troopers on his left and right he nodded towards the Heavy Trooper who had fired the rocket and they raised their rifles, opening fire.

As the trooper fell he motioned to another to shut the lift doors, as the lift sealed an explosion erupted on the other side of the bulkhead causing the lift to shake. When the doors slowly re-opened Vincent stepped out and looked to the left and right, taking note of the troopers who had lay in wait and got caught in their own ambush. "Amateurs."

"Acknowledged," replied Kev-Mas, then disconnecting the link.

"Alright men, there is very likely an Inquisitor still on this ship. We need to shut down access to remote locations on the ship. We are going to do that as we search for this Inquisitor. I will take two squads with me to search for the Inquisitor while the other will stay here and shut down remote access."

Kev-Mas then scanned the ship with the Force, hoping to find the Inquisitor, and immediately found him, his presence located in the vicinity of the turbolift, gradually growing stronger.

"He's coming for us," stated Kev-Mas blankly, "And he's alone. Take up defensive positions around the command deck, I'll take care of him."

Kev-Mas then waltzed right to the turbolift, arriving as the Inquisitor came out through the door that opened at that moment.

"Well well well. If it isn't the traitorous usurper. We thought you had perished over Imperial Center. I guess we'll have to change that to _perished over Utapau_ " mocked the Inquisitor.

"Is that the story that intelligence is trying to shove down your throats? Try to quell the fears of the public - make them think they're safe when their Empire made a mistake that could cost them their lives?" asked Kev-Mas, igniting his lightsaber.

He continued mockingly, "Helps morale, doesn't it Maybe after I'm done chopping you up I'll have to hack the Holonet and take advantage of the Tarkin Doctrine. So much for feeling safe."

"You can try!" sneered the Inquisitor in return, lunging forth towards Kev-Mas and meeting in a blade lock with his rotating saberstaff and Kev-Mas' greatsaber.

When Vincent and the team arrived in the engine room they found the engineering officers working fast to overload the reactor. Reaching out he pulled one of the officers to him, impaling him on his pike and holding him up for the others to see. "You will stand down, or you will die. You've already lost the ship, and you have no chance to destroy her now that we've taken the bridge. So make the choice."

He threw the officer to the side, discarding him like trash. "Have a chance to live, and maybe see your families again, or burn like trash." Very slowly every individual and the few storm troopers began to raise their hands, the troopers dropping their weapons to the floor as they did. "Good." Vincent took a step forward, as a trooper lunged forward, drawing his pistol, only to have a hole burn through his helmet from a blaster shot.

The Echani stepped over the body as though nothing had occurred and walked up to the control console, deactivating the overload sequence and bringing the reactor under control. "Bind them, take them to the brig. The rest of you, help me get internal security back online…"

The Inquisitor was sent flying back into the turbolift as Kev-Mas landed a powerful kick to his chest, and Kev-Mas quickly sped after him. The turbolift doors then immediately closed, and the two battled close quarters as they descended down to the lower levels of the ship. The door opened again as it came to a stop on the crew deck, and the Inquisitor Force pushed Kev-Mas out the door, following after him.

Kev-Mas then reached out to a thermal detonator on one of the several bodies of Stormtroopers and hurled it at the Inquisitor and detonated it, but he dodged the explosion and then lunged at Kev-Mas again. Kev-Mas sent a strong uppercut towards the Inquisitor mid swing and he was sent flying. While he was quick and agile, the Inquisitor's Ataru strikes were easily defended against by Kev-Mas precision brute force.

Kev-Mas sent forth a torrent of electrical Force Energy at the Inquisitor who then absorbed it with one of the ends on his saber staff.

"Well then, maybe you'll prove to be more challenging than the last Inquisitor who tried to kill me. You're still going to die though."

The Inquisitor then let out a scowl and charged Kev-Mas again. Letting loose a Force push towards the Inquisitor, he was sent backwards yet again.

"Yup, you're still going to die. How can you expect to win if you can't even touch me?"

Vincent brought the internal security systems back online, and began locking down the crew all across the ship. Those unfortunate enough to be in areas that were going to be vital to their operations found the ships stores of Nytinite gas flooded into their sections. It was as he was going through the crew areas that he saw Kev-Mas fighting the Inquisitor. The former Hand seemed to have the advantage but something seemed off. The Inquisitor was not utilizing the rotational function of his saber, a common tactic in enclosed areas.

"You," He motioned towards a trooper. "Come with me, the rest of you continue to lock down this area. I am going to assist your Commander." Lifting his saber pike up the Echani turned and broke into a run towards the turbolift, a trooper in hot pursuit. He did not doubt Colcha's capabilities, but if the Inquisitor was leading the man into a trap, he might very well need help.

What's more, Vincent would not be satisfied unless he saw his former 'comrade' die with his own eyes.

Kev-Mas then walked towards the Inquisitor slowly, who then began to rotate his lightsaber staff defensively.

"How can _you_ expect to win if you can't even touch _me_?" mocked the Inquisitor.

"Oh how clever!" replied Kev-Mas sarcastically, "Let's try spinning! That's a cool trick!"

Kev-Mas then felt Vincent's Force presence nearing him, and he began to push the Inquisitor in that direction.

"I think you'll find that I've got some cool tricks too!"

The moment the lift open Vincent sprang forward, the force wrapped around him he was a blur, leaving the trooper behind with explicit orders to catch up. He felt the other two presences growing stronger, the confidence of Colcha, and the frustration of the Inquisitor. As he approached an interception he skidded to a stop, Colcha and the inquisitor where in sight, and Vincent raised his pike and slammed the end down into the durasteel deck.

There was a moment of eerie silence, broken only by the hum of lightsabers as the clack echoed through the corridor. " _Brother!_ " He spoke the word with such venom that only a fool could miss the spite, "Do you know where you are?" His pike ignited, and he spun it on his side till it came to a stop at an angle behind him, blade to the ground, as he slowly marched forward.

"Loyalty was a word bred into us." He started, the blade etching a line through the floor as he moved. "Loyalty to our brothers, our sisters, the Shadow Guard. A family, joined in pain and service, black, faceless, and united."

"You were taught loyalty to the Emperor!"

"The Emperor is _dead!_ " His foot came to a slamming halt as he placed himself equal distance from the Inquisitor as Kev-Mas had been driving him back. "The Order was _everything._ We lived together. We dined together. We died together." He raised the pike, blade forward at the Inquisitor. "You stand between the last remaining Shadow Guard, our pact with Palpatine is dead. Our pact with each other, however…"

"Is alive and burning stronger than ever," finished Kev-Mas, who then slammed his blade down on the Inquisitor's spinning blade, gripping his greatsaber firmly, stopping the blade and causing the motor to short out from the stress.

"You're going to need a lot more than fancy lightsaber hilts and spinning blades to stop us. You're going to need a lot more than an entire Empire to stop us. You shall not win this fight. Not now, not ever."

Kev-Mas then let loose a force push towards the shocked Inquisitor and he was sent flying into a bulkhead.

"Let's finish him," said Kev-Mas towards Vincent, "Together."

Vincent nodded, pulled the Inquisitor saber attached to his belt out and tossed it into the air between them. He caught it in the air with the force, the blades springing to life at it spun. "Let's do it with a bit of… irony."

Kev-Mas chuckled at Vincent's creativity. "Get up slime!" he commanded to the Inquisitor. "There is no honor in killing an enemy when they are down, come and get us."

The Inquisitor then reached out to send a torrent of electrical Force energy on Vincent's floating Inquisitor saber, for which Vincent did nothing but rotate it faster. "Only works if your saber's actually held by someone." Clenching his fist the saber's rotation stopped, and in a flash of speed embedded itself into the bulkhead wall, through the Inquisitor's shoulder. "Like this," A massive arc of lightning sprang from the Echani's fingers into the saber, and burning its way through the Inquisitor, and sparking up along the bulk head. After a moment the lightning subsided, and the Inquisitor was left smoldering, but alive. "He's yours to kill. He holds no honor so there is no honor to take in his death anyway. Slay him like a akk hound, for that is all he is worth."

A massive ball of flame erupted from Kev-Mas' hand and was hurled towards the already smoldering Inquisitor as the former Emperor's Hand let loose raw destructive power upon him. His screams pierced the thin air of the Star Destroyer as the flames engulfed and consumed him slowly.

"He holds no honor? I'll let him suffer then."

Vincent watched the pyre for a moment then turned away, "We need to get this ship to the Utapauns. If they have the people to crew it, we must field it in battle. They've already lost a Dreadnought." He stepped up to the turbolift and waited for Kev-Mas to join him. "I've secured Engineering, and the crew have been contained or incapacitated. But we need at least four hundred hands to man this ship to be even the slightest bit effective." He paused, and looked up, as though into space through the bulkheads. "I need to get to the Hangar."

"I'll contact the Sky Force and have them bring up a crew as well as some fighters," replied Kev-Mas, "I'm getting reports that the 2 TIE squadrons on this ship were single handedly eliminated by the _Wraith_ and it's complement of TIEs."

Tapping a finger on his right temple to activate his comlink, he contacted General Vant, "General Vant, the Star Destroyer above the surface has been captured. We're going to need 400 crewmen as 2 squadrons of Fighters to bring back into the battle on our side. I suggest you bring them up immediately while the skies are still clear."

"Most excellent, we have completed our evacuation efforts and we have enough soldiers to spare," replied Vant, "We'll send them right up."

Moments later the shuttles and fighters from the Utapauns arrived in the Hangar bay to greet Kev-Mas and Vincent.

While the men were disembarking from the shuttle, Kev-Mas took the time to address Vincent on something he was curious about.

"Vincent," began Kev-Mas, "As you were taking care of the crashed drop ships one of my forces mentioned that it looked like you were giving orders over comms, but they could not tell to whom. Do you mind filling me in on what those were?"

Vincent was standing at the edge of the main hangar's egress, observing the ground below when he looked up to Kev-Mas. "Friends."

" _Sir_ ," It was a comm signal from the bridge. " _We're getting odd readings in the upper atmosphere, if these readings are right there's… but that's._ " Frustrated with not being able to articulate and knowing his Commander would be as well he transferred the visual and sensor data to the hangar's large display.

The energy spikes increased, someone with intimate knowledge of hyperspace mechanics would realize it was the residual signature of a craft traveling through a gravity well at rapidly decreasing hyperluminal speeds. "And they're here…"

The Atmosphere snapped in fire for a moment as a Gozanti cruiser snapped into existence and began rapidly decelerating on a path towards the planet's surface. The sensors struggled to get a read on the ship due to residual radiation, before the scanners finally identified it as the ISC _Shadow of Veils_. The ship began firing retro-thrusters, pulling up out of it's dive as it adjusted course towards the Star Destroyer.

"I take it that ship that just came out of hyperspace are the friends you're talking about?" assumed Kev-Mas.

"Yes, ship under my personal command. She was on assignment when this all went down. They've been in contact with me since Coruscant. However I was… concerned about revealing the information till the time was right."

"That's completely understood and probably for the best," nodded Kev-Mas, "Had you informed me or my crew about this they probably would have less reason to trust you. Now that you have proven your loyalty though, this isn't a problem anymore."

Kev-Mas opened a comm to the bridge, "Don't worry. The ship that has arrived is friendly. You can thank Commander Vincent later for the reinforcements."

Kev-Mas then turned to Vincent again, "Shall we go meet these friends of yours?"

"No." He shook his head, "They're dropping something off then joining the battle…" The cruiser passed underneath the destroyer without stopping, but even from the hangar they could hear the loud clang of several objects detaching. The distinct sound of TIE engines roared to life as three Avengers and a single Oppressor rose up through the hangar opening. Vincent raised a hand, and directed them towards an empty landing area, and they slowly began to make their way in that direction.

"Ahh," mused Kev-Mas, pointing to the TIE Hunter of his, still in the hangar bay where he left it, "Then I take it you'll be joining me there as well?"

"Yes. We still have two more Star Destroyers to deal with." The Oppressor landed closest, and the cockpit hatch unsealed and a winch lowered down which Vincent walked over towards and put a foot through the loop of and started to slowly rise up. "The _Shadow of Veils_ is specially designed to disable larger ships, but it will take her time to disable one Star Destroyer, let alone two. We're going to need to provide cover."

Climbing into the cockpit, Vincent pulled a headset on and initiated the hud. The system recognized his biometrics and brought up his usual displays. Shields and munitions on the left, power regulation and engine/thruster control on the right. "This fighter," he started over the comms, "is armed with two Ion Cannons, Four Laser Cannons. It is also fitted with 8 concussion missiles, and an energy bomb launcher. If you would be so kind as to provide cover for me. I'll pound their shields for my Cruiser's Ion Cannon to be more effective."

Kev-Mas, seated in the cockpit of his own fighter initiated start-up procedures and replied to Vincent over comms. "Acknowledged. Both the _Wraith_ as well as its fighters and I will provide cover. Let's get this party started."

As his fighter's engine began to come to life, Kev-Mas issued a comm to Captain Tersil onboard the _Wraith_.

"Tersil, new orders. I want you to provide defensive cover for Vincent's ship and have the fighters group in with me to cover his fighters. Before you ask, yes, I'm talking about the ship that just came out of hyperspace."

"Affirmative, Commander."

The shuttle moved off, allowing the group of TIE fighters to move into launch positions. Normally they'd drop from the hangar's roof down into flight but given this unusual situation they simply lifted from the deck floor and eased down through the hangar exit. The groups formed up into a flying V. Vincent at the fore, Kev-Mas to his port, and the TIE Avengers filling out the second and third line back followed by Kev-Mas' other TIE Hunters.

"Temporarily taking on designations, Red Squadron." He hit a few commands, and issued designations to the rest of the fighters, Starting with Kev-Mas as Red Two. "Our goal is to break through the anti-fighter line of the Imperial Star Destroyer, and hit its shield generators. All commands from this point forth come from Red Two."

The fighters broke from under the cover of the Star Destroyer as it rose into the atmosphere. Their Ion Engines burned trails through the more volatile portions of the upper exosphere and before long they broke orbit, screaming through the dark towards the battle. It was clear that the Sky Force was struggling to hold ground but the Imperial Forces had gained no clear advantage beyond the first loss. "Remember, the Empire betrayed our loyalty with threats of death. They thanked our service with a blade behind the back and a promise of poison. We shall return unto them the same. Red Leader out."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Hole Punched

 **Utapau System, high orbit over Utapau**

 **39:3:6 (4 ABY)**

 **1402 hours**

Holonovels and holovids liked to paint space battles as big clean conflicts between capital ships and Starfighters. The truth couldn't be furthest from. Space was on fire, red, blue, and green bolts of light skipped back and forth between the Imperials, the Sky Force and their supporters. Though the Imperials had tactical superiority against the capital ships, the Porax class of Starfighter, despite being over 20 years old, simply outclassed every TIE fighter in the field.

Added to their advantage, the Sky Force had starships with actual anti-starfighter roles, the Heavy Cruisers they fielded put up a wall of anti-fighter flack so thick that not a single TIE had made it to the atmosphere in one piece. Without the direct coordination however, this also meant that their former Imperial allies couldn't easily traverse the battle.

"Sky Force Fleet Command this is Red Leader." Vincent commed the lead cruiser as they broke atmosphere. "We are in route to engage the ImpStar," He forwarded trajectory data from his navigational computer. It highlighted their path and where they would intercept the flak line. "We will need you to reduce anti-fighter weaponry targeting this grid for approximately thirty seconds on my mark. The _Wraith_ will move in to intercept any fighters that push through while we make our egress. Do you copy?"

"This is Sky Force Fleet Command, we read you Red Leader. Please advise our weapons operate on a two second delay, we will require an additional period to disengage fire."

"Acknowledge Command." Reaching up the Echani thumbed a few indicator switches, bringing full shields and maneuvering thrusters online now that they were in vacuum. "Red Leader to squadron, we will be penetrating the anti-flack line in five. Four. Three. Mark. One. Now."

The shockwave had begun buffeting against their hulls when suddenly it became quiet, eerily so. The world around them was still afire but in their immediate vicinity there was nothing, then the klaxons rang out. Six TIEs, Special Forces, started bearing down on them, a target lock alarm called out, and was quickly silenced as one of the craft exploded, causing the others to jink away.

The massive arrow shaped hull of the _Wraith_ sped into view, it's anti-fighter lasers lighting up the sky as it formed up in front of the fighter squadron, the ships massive engines letting it keep pace. Another TIE went up, then another. The enemy squad broke away, trying to make towards the planet only to get caught in the wave of Flack that was starting to rapidly recede back into the opening.

Thirty seconds went by in what felt both like a heartbeat and an eternity, but not a single fighter broke ranks from their squad. Loyalty or professionalism Vincent didn't know, nor did he truly care for the moment. The fighters formed up over the Corvette, still keeping pace with the smaller craft as they angled towards the ISD, which sat ominously at the edges of the battlezone. "Red Two. I somehow doubt the engine modifications I'm registering suddenly were authorized. Me thinks we both kept secrets."

"You assume correctly, Red Leader," replied Kev-Mas over comm, "That's a story for another day, but at least it proves quite useful here."

Kev-Mas and his TIE Hunters formed up in front of Vincent and his TIE Avengers to provide defensive coverage against any enemy TIEs that managed to evade the _Wraith_ 's laser cannons.

"Formation set and ready to engage on your mark, Red Leader."

"Hunters, move to engage first, draw fire. _Wraith_ prepare to engage in a broadside strafing maneuver along their starboard trench, Avengers, fall behind the _Wraith_. Link targeting data with their computers, we will make a single pass. Hunters, fall in line after the _Wraith_ takes the brunt of their focus, follow up on our targets, unload all munitions, after this pass, the _Shadow of Veils_ will make it's shot."

With that, Kev-Mas and the other TIE Hunters moved to engage the enemy TIEs that were swarming the ISD. The strategy worked, and the trap was sprung, and immediately after the enemy TIEs left their defensive positions to engage the Hunters the _Wraith_ decloaked and began it's broadside against the ISD's starboard trench. The enemy TIEs then shifted their focus to the Corvette that came out of nowhere attacking the Star Destroyer and the corvette responded immediately after the first shot was sent its way.

The _Wraith_ 's broadside maneuver was more a trap than anything. It was not intended to do much damage at all, as the Corvette was designed to fulfill an anti-starfighter role than anything. So when the fighters responded by opening fire on it, the ship was well prepared, and began eliminating enemy TIEs at a rapid rate.

If by luck, by strategy, or sheer stringent attention to imperial doctrine by their opponents the plan seemed to work. Vincent's sensors watched the ISD closely for any deviation from his estimations, so he might call off the attack. The TIEs had broken formation, and the _Wraith_ now sat as a shield between them and Vincent's assault squad. More so, the Star Destroyer's command crew had operated with peak anti-capital ship efficiency. They pumped more power to the starboard ray-shields and their turbolaser batteries came online and began to come to bare.

It was this singular focused nature of the Empire to show an overwhelming act of force against an opponent that left the opening. With power shunted to ray-shields and turbolasers their particle shields felt the strain, after all that was what TIEs were there for. Except they weren't, and now from out behind the ion wake of the _Wraith_ came four other fighters, their targeting computers locked on to the exact points the _Wraith's_ turbolasers had struck, where the ray shields were strongest, and the particle shields were at their weakest.

The missiles flew out, slamming into the trench and detonated. Immediate sections of the outer hull buckled, and Vincent pivoted his craft to his port, bringing the underside in line with the ISD and he thumbed his bomb controls. The energy bomb launcher discharged, a single massive burst displacing the entire charge of the system. It slammed into the ray-shields, their now strained localized emitters flaring in warning, if the Echani's sensors were to be believed. "Hunters, _Wraith_ lock on to my targeting data, and fire."

The _Wraith_ and the Hunters had just finished eliminating the last of the enemy TIEs in the area when Vincent had issued the orders to fire, and they were ready for it. Firing everything they had into the shields of the kilometer long star destroyer, the 7 TIE Hunters and _Raider_ -class corvette launched a barrage of turbolaser, laser, ion cannon and proton torpedo fire upon the Star Destroyer. The assault slammed into the ship and it shuddered as the shields came offline.

The _Wraith_ and Kev-Mas' TIE Hunters made a pass away from the ship, and Kev-Mas informed Vincent of their success. "Red Leader, the shields are down. Feel free to make your assault immediately."

The confirmation reply from Vincent came in the form of a high frequency comm burst, to the squadron it sounded like a burst of static, to another ship, positioned high in polar orbit after dropping off the fighters, it was full of targeting data. A blue bolt lanced across the battle, slower than a laser bolt, but not by much, it slammed into the upper hull of the star destroyer. Arcs of energy flowed out from the impact point, and the assaulting squadron watched as the lights across the dorsal portion of the ship winked and failed.

Another bolt, this one impacting the bridge tower. The massive observation deck's transparent dura-plast windows shattered, the bridge crew was quickly dead of electrical discharges, explosive decompression, if they were lucky. If not, it would be a painful several minutes as the vacuum took them.

The Star Destroyers engines failed, flaring a few times before going cold, leaving the massive hulk to drift, just far enough away from Utapau that gravity did not take it in. Closer towards the planet, the battle was shifting momentum, with the ISD first preoccupied, and now disabled, the lone Victory was out numbered, and beginning to break from the assault. "An important question to ask ourselves," Vincent poised over the comm channel. "Do we need three Star Destroyers?"

"Well like you said before the battle started," replied Kev-Mas, "Salvage is our top priority."

"And it is," The former Inquisitor agreed. "However, do we have the manpower to effectively field three Star Destroyers? If not, do we leave one to the enemy?"

"I believe that would be a question for the Sky Force," the ex-Emperor's hand mused in reply, "Perhaps once the battle is over they'll have more manpower available to crew them."

"Speaking of which," he continued, "I believe that we need to make sure they remember not to destroy that _Victory_ -class."

"Sky Force, this is Commander Colcha," said Kev-Mas over comm to General Vant, "I want to remind you to focus on disabling that ship, not destroying it. Then once the battle is over you might want to check and see if you have the manpower available to field 3 Star Destroyers. Today the Empire came with expectations of taking your planet back, but in reality they gave you a small fleet to command."

"It'll be a stretch Commander, but I'll see what we can do," replied Vant, "We may have to resort to using some relics that were left in Pau City at the end of the Clone Wars."

"You can't be serious," replied Kev-Mas, "I thought the Separatist Droid Factories were all destroyed?"

"All of them but the one here, Commander," replied Vant, "After the Republic drove the Separatists from our planet and disabled the factory, it was still intact. We were working on converting it for our own use, but by the time we got it ready for production the Republic, since then being reformed into an Empire ordered all Droid Factories to be destroyed. Rather than destroy all that hard work, we put it into hiding."

"Why didn't you use it when you retook the planet then? Or for this battle?" replied Kev-Mas.

"The factory is a last resort option for us," explained Vant, "We weren't entirely sure that it would work and it would have been overkill if it did work in those situations. We already had a tactical advantage in both battles."

"Well, I guess you can try putting it to work to help crew these Star Destroyers," replied Kev-Mas, "These ships are your only hope for keeping this planet under your control. The fleet that we just defeated is most likely just a scout fleet based on its size. You can be assured that another much larger fleet is on it's way, and you're going to need to be ready for it."

"Vincent," said Kev-Mas over comms, "You're not going to believe this, but they're going to crew those ships with _Battle Droids_. Apparently the Imperial Order to destroy all..."

"I do have ears Colcha." The Echani interrupted.

"Alright then," Kev-Mas chuckled, "I guess you already know what's going on then."

"In the meantime however, General, could you order your forces to continue their assault on the _Victory_ , focusing on its engines as it retreats. It is attempting to move beyond the gravity shadow, unfortunately they assaulted in direction of the moon and now have to contend with it. Well, unfortunately for them." Vincent looked back over the orbital data his ship's systems had fed him, "I have a plan to disable the ship, well, incapacitate, giving you time to gather forces to take and repair it, but your continued assault is necessary. Though they should be prepared to stop, you will know when."

"Vincent," Kev-Mas inquired, "We need allies. The Empire is going to retaliate with a larger fleet, and even with 3 Star Destroyers added to our numbers and several Battle Droids, there won't be any chance of us to defeat a full scale invasion fleet. Who hates the Empire more than we do?"

The Echani sighed. "The Alliance to Restore the Republic, The Lothalian Rebels, Phoenix Squadron, various CIS holdouts, the Hutts, the Mandalorians, do you want me to give you all the information I have from Imperial Intelligence? I will, but we have a battle to win first. If that Star Destroyer gets away, we will have it _and_ its relief force to deal with. I _need_ it to focus its shields to the aft."

"What shields?" replied Kev-Mas, "Check again. I think you'll find that Sky Force managed to handle themselves quite well."

The Echani simply sent the sensor data he had to the man's fighter. It showed elevated power levels to the aft, but that shields were holding. "The most recent refit of the Victory two added secondary aft shield generators, they are effectively more heavily shielded against energy weapons than an ISD. The Dreadnoughts are working but the attack must be pressed." Vincent forwarded other data, showing several target points along the ship's bridge tower. "I need the shields that guard the fore of the bridge tower down by another 14% for this to be an effective operation. _Trust me._ "

"Alright," acknowledged Kev-Mas, "Lets clean up this mess then."

With that out of the way, the Dreadnoughts continued their assault, lining up in an advancing broadside line, pounding away at the _Victory's_ aft. Occasionally a blue bolt would spark out from polar orbit, flickering off the ships shields, and the power levels would drop. Vincent and his squadron had formed up, but did not advance, he heard quiet mumbles over comms, Colcha's people he assumed. Then, the number shifted from green to red, as the shields dropped down into the critical mark.

"Go for decapitation."

Before Colcha could inquire what Vincent had meant sensors flared and klaxons went off as another ship appeared, seemingly from nowhere. The Echani knew that Colcha would recognize it right away, the unmistakable silhouette of a VT-49 as it decloaked, hull sparking in purple as the memetic shielding ate away.

Angry green blasts barked out from under the hull, slamming into the bridge tower, the remaining shields it had flaring in an flash. The Decimator pulled up, two contrails spiraling out from it's underside as it banked away. Two explosions erupted on the Bridge Tower, and in a near instant the ship went dark, it's engines failing as it floated quietly forward destined to enter orbit of the planets moons.

"A Camarian Scythe maneuver is not easily performed on a Star Destroyer while it's shields are up see." The Echani said finally, the Decimator continuing its bank as it decelerated, coming into approach on the squadron. The Sky Forces fire rapidly declining as the Star Destroyer floated effectively dead in the water. "But it's easy to catch one by surprise when there's a fleet of Dreadnoughts on their aft and the only ship capable of effectively performing the maneuver doesn't exist anymore. Officially."

"Well aren't you just full of surprises…" commented Kev-Mas, "What's next? You're going to reveal that you're my father?"

"That would be paradoxical as you're older than I am." The Echani suddenly sounded very tired, "The coordination effort this all took was quite, significant." He let out a long breath. "My crew has spent years with me, while not attuned to the force they are attuned to me, my distractions, my emotional state, has been due to coordinating with them not simply through comms but with the Force as well."

The Decimator swung up over Vincent's craft, and lowered a docking collar down, before slowly moving towards the gathering fleet. A small gesture, to keep their commander from having to fly if just for a bit. "You recall how it was, with your Shadow Troopers do you not?" He reached up, and touched the roof of his cockpit, "When the order fell, they were spared by their diligence alone, having found the sabotage long before. I thought it had been a Moff, or an officer who had a grudge against me. In the end, they are nearly all that remains of our Order's legacy."

"In the case of mine," replied Kev-Mas, "I had it a little easier than that. They were spared because they were deemed necessary to my ongoing operations as the Emperor's Hand. The order was given three years before the Emperor selected me to be his hand, so my days as a Shadow Guard were already over… but once a Shadow Guard, always a Shadow Guard. Once a Sun Guard, always a Sun Guard."

There was no immediate response, for a time there was silence as they moved past the first Dreadnought, towards the command ship. "As an Inquisitor, as the 34th brother, I needed no squad. We were self-sufficient, we had a fighter, which I stowed away, a lightsaber, and some droids. Later, as a High Inquisitor, I got a command, but the deed had been done. I knew from the start what had happened, what was happening. So I laid out all these plans… so much for them now."

"How come?" replied Kev-Mas with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"My plans didn't include you, or a larger ship, a larger crew. Me and Mine. With time, and effort they could, but, I wasn't planning to do this so soon, and I won't abandon you and yours now for my own sake. We are the last of us, the Force knows that. The Force lead me to be on Coruscant, alone with only one other Inquisitor when the Emperor fell, the only two people on Coruscant who could stand up to you. The Force put me here, and I have no doubt that means something." The Echani sat up in his flight chair, as the world around them grew brighter, his fighter was let go, and automated systems settled him into a landing path on the Dreadnoughts main hangar.

Kev-Mas had also put his fighter into automated systems, and the two fighters flew next to each other into the Dreadnought's hangar. "To be honest, ever since the Emperor died I was completely lost as far as what to do with myself," Kev-Mas admitted, "Turns out that being suddenly freed from having your mind enslaved to the most powerful person in the Galaxy makes you go a little nuts. So I'm glad to know at least one of us knows their calling beyond the line of duty that no longer exists..."

There wasn't an immediate response as Vincent's fighter settled to the deck, the large VT-49 coming to rest not far from the Oppressor. In silence the Echani climbed out of his cockpit, stepped into the small hitch that popped out from the side of the eyeball and lowered him down. As he settled to the ground, eight figured, all clad in black Stormtrooper armor filtered quietly out of the Decimator and stood around the now visibly tired Echani.

There were onlookers, Kev-Mas' people, the various members of the skyforce, their attention had to be on them, the black armor was something of a mark on the already dark Imperial legacy. In turn, each man reached up in silence and removed his helmet as Vincent seemed to look on in, his eyes having gone soft. Each man bore marks, scars. They were all wildy different, save two, same face, same eyes, different scars. Kev-Mas would know they were former clone troopers.

The troopers sat their helmets on the Deck and stood in front of them, taking a salute, right arm across the chest, first formed flat over the heart, and bowed slightly. Vincent returned the gesture, and then in an act that caused murmurs in amongst the ranks of the Sky Force, he opened his arms wide as he rose back up, the troopers filing in, forming a massed group hug, armor clanging against armor in the otherwise quiet of the act.

Kev-Mas was just exiting his TIE when he saw the new faces.

"Well that's awkward," Kev-Mas commented to himself, "Obviously Stormtrooper armor was not designed for displays of camaraderie."

Kev-Mas then decided it was important to introduce himself, and went over to greet them.

"Clones, eh?"

"The 375th Shadow Trooper Regiment," One replied as they broke from the group and pointed a thumb at his chest, "Gamma-32, Cav." He then pointed to the other clone. "Gamma-34, Erty." The rest of the troopers had broken up and all turned to address the other man with their attention, Vincent stepped up to the front of the group.

"After they were, unceremoniously discharged, I allowed them to look into a way to stop their accelerated aging." He crossed his arms in front of him and looked the two over. "A group of Troopers who fled the New Order two decades ago had apparently discovered it some time ago, thankfully as Gamma's they are pretty young compared to most clones."

"Well that explains why they're still alive and in working order," commented Kev-Mas, "Quite ironic given the current circumstances though, considering the Sky Force is going to be crewing the Star Destroyers we just captured with Battle Droids - their former enemies."

"Droids weren't our enemies mate." This was Erty speaking up, his voice similar to Cav's clean cut clone, but with an inflection that nobody could quite pinpoint. "Was the buggers programmin' em. Hell Republic used battledroids in several operations, even the B-series. Yer enemy is very rarely the guy on the other line with a blaster, it's the guy in the comfy chair lightyears away."

Vincent cleared his throat, and Erty seemed to step back, "Forgive him, Erty's always been one for learning. He's memorized nearly every battle the 501st and the Open Circle Fleet performed in during the clone wars. He's also more than well aware of what happens when someone else has control of what you can do against your will."

"General order Sixty-Six." Both clones said, rather darkly. "We couldn't…"

Vincent held up a hand, "Like I said, they know all too well."

"Sounds like Erty is everything the Empire feared in an individual," acknowledged Kev-Mas, "A good quality to have, but it makes sense that they were discharged from serving Imperial service. Unfortunate, but that's just the way the Empire was… and that's exactly why we don't stand for that anymore."

"Though now we have to find exactly what it is we stand for." Vincent motioned towards the General, who had finally arrived in the hangar bay. "I think we should inform the General of exactly what damage we dealt to the Star Destroyers, it may take several days for them to be up and operational, well, aside from the one on the surface."

"Agreed," nodded Kev-Mas, "I'll leave that to you, since you seem to have a better grasp of the tactical situation at hand."

Just then General Vant came their way. The Utai then addressed them with a gruff voice, "The Utapaun people cannot thank you enough. You have given us hope, and ensured that our freedom was not short lived."

"Yes, but I'm afraid it's not time to celebrate yet," replied Kev-Mas, "I can assure you that the Empire will be back eventually. It is standard Imperial protocol to always make two attempts at most to capture a planet, and the second attempt always dwarfs the first one in scale. We're going to need to be ready, which is why it is so important that we get these ships we've captured in working order before they strike again. Vincent will give you a detailed rundown of what's in store."

General Vant nodded, and then looked in Vincent's direction, "I'm ready when you are, Commander."

"Right," The Echani dropped his arms and clasped his hands behind his back, and subconsciously took the stance Imperial Officers often take when giving briefings. "Let us begin with the Imperial Star Destroyer. Her damage is mostly to her starboard shielding, a full overhaul would take weeks but power can be restored and she can be placed in an orbital position suitable for granting anti-capital fire away from the planet. This will allow you to double focus the shields in that direction, though I would not fully lower shields on the starboard sections."

"Her crew," he continued, "Is likely working to restore the craft as we speak. Unfortunately for them my vessel the _Shadow of Veils_ is regularly hitting it's main hull with an Ion Cannon. It's bridge is also damaged, an assault from there, down into the ship will allow you to take key sections. Venting atmosphere would also be a viable option, so your droids will be of exceptional use there, as well as the next subject."

"The Victory was hit with a maneuver that we used to use in the Shadow Guard. It normally works on cruisers, but a Victory, even a Victory II, for it's Star Destroyer title, is a large cruiser. We struck their main power distribution center, and atmospheric controls. They have no power, no gravity, and are spending air. A remote override from an outer airlock into the emergency controls to unlock and unseal all the emergency bulkheads will be the priority. Erty is skilled at this, if we can get him an EV suit he can lead a squad of droids. Once the override is complete, a high level command, say a level Thesh override command from an High Inquisitor directing emergency systems to open every outer and inner airlock for an emergency purge? We do that, most if not all of the crew will be dealt with, it's cold, it's cruel, but we are in no position to take prisoners, we can attain a higher moral standard than our Former Empire once your world is safe General."

"At this point my top priority is our freedom and the safety of my people," replied Vant, "As long as that is achieved, morals can be dammed. We will work on getting those droids online though. It is likely that they'll be ready to crew the ships around the same time they are ready to receive them."

Vincent motioned towards Erty and Cav, "Go assist the general's people in getting the droids online. You know more about the than most, since you spent years taking them apart."

"Not so much putting them back together Sir." Cav replied with a grimace.

"True, but you also know what you'll need to infiltrate those two Star Destroyers, so go help them get set up." Vincent then turned back to the General and Kev-Mas. "I will give you an estimate, four days. The Empire is moving to counter dissidence in every sector, the Alliance to Restore the Republic is pushing against the with everything they have."

"It isn't just that sir." One of the other Shadow Troopers spoke up, "As we sat out of system after your message, we listened in on the Holonet and Imperial Command. Corellia is in full rebellion, every ship the Empire had in dock was remotely disabled. A quarter of the sector fleet is locked up, another third is engaged with an alliance of smugglers and what appear to be various criminal syndicates. And then there's your home world sir…"

"What of Eshan?" He was curious, though he'd never seen the world in person.

"They too had large orbital yards like Corellia, but they took it a step further. They not only locked down Imperial ships in dry dock, they have taken control of one of the _Bellator_ -class Dreadnoughts. Last reports from the Commonwealth indicated that the local Imperial Governor had been assassinated and his Flagship, the _Minshara_ was used as target practice by the _Bellator_ as it escaped. In short sir, the Empire is hard pressed. They will return, but they have bigger issues than Utapau right now."

"So this gives us plenty of time to prepare then," said Kev-Mas, "We still need to move quickly, but hopefully this eases tensions so that we don't make too many mistakes out of haste."

General Vant then turned to Vincent and Kev-Mas, "You two have been fighting all day non-stop. I hate to put a stop to your good work, but I do recommend you get some rest. We have set up accommodations for you and we will keep you updated constantly on our progress, but I do think you deserve some rest."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - "Hole"ding the line **  
Pau City, Utapau**

 **Utapau System**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **1745 hours**

It had been approximately two weeks since the Empire last attempted to retake Utapau, and it had seemed as if they had all but given up hope on retaking the planet. Under the advisement of Vincent and Kev-Mas, the Utapauns did not take this for granted, and continued to prepare for another assault. They had managed to not only get a sizeable droid army up and running, but using the extra time they had they had upgraded them with modern technology and gear.

The two _Victory_ -class Star Destroyers that had been captured during the last assault had been repaired and crewed with some of these droids, as well as outfitted with Sky Force Porax-38 Starfighters in lieu of the TIE/LN Starfighters that they outperformed despite their more advanced age. If the Empire came back to retake the planet, they would be needing a great deal more firepower than they had brought the last time.

Meanwhile, Kev-Mas sat inside the apartment in Pau City that had been provided for him by the Utapaun government. As he sat cross legged on the floor, deep in meditation, he was presented by a vision in the Force. In this vision, he observed a sunrise on a planet of which he did not recognize, and heard a whispering voice speaking in an almost soothing nature. " _The dawn is coming for you… let go of your past, and embrace the future… but do not anticipate it. You will find it when you find yourself."_ Moments later, Kev-Mas awoke from the trance, confused.

"What the kriff is that supposed to mean?", he muttered to himself, "How am I not supposed to anticipate something that I already know is coming? Oh well. I guess I'll ignore it and focus on something else."

Kev-Mas then went over to his comm terminal and reached out to send a message to Vincent, "Vincent, remember how you told me about a few certain groups we could reach out to form allegiances with? I totally forgot about it until now as we were busy preparing the defenses for another Imperial invasion, but I now just remembered and I think that it's a good idea to look into it right about now."

"You have an unusually leisurely mentality about these sorts of things for a former Emperor's Hand." The initial response was, short. However a longer one followed. "I am currently training onboard the _Wolvesbane_ , she is berthed not far from where you reside. Meet me there."

"Well I'm not an Emperor's Hand anymore now am I?" replied Kev-Mas with a smirk, "Acknowledged, I'll be there shortly. Colcha out."

With that, Kev-Mas terminated the connection and grabbed his things, then shortly after was out the door, taking the short stroll from his apartment to the Hangar Bay where the _Wolvesbane_ was docked.

Kev-Mas had just arrived at Vincent's ship when he received a pending comm message from General Vant. Pressing a finger down on his temple to activate the commlink in his cybernetic implant, Kev-Mas replied, "Colcha here. What's the situation?"

"It's very dire sir. Long range scanners has detected an Imperial fleet at the edge of the system. The fleet isn't big, probably about two or three ships in size, but it's still concerning because of size of the ship leading it."

"What about it?" asked Kev-Mas, with a slight hint of concern in his voice.

"It appears that they've brought a Super Star Destroyer…"

"Stang… how much time do we have?"

"About two hours, at most. I'd suggest you get ready for battle."

"That goes without saying, though there's something I need to do first that might ensure our victory…"

Arriving at the room in which Kev-Mas detected Vincent's presence in the Force, he greeted him with the urgent news.

"Vincent, it appears that it's now or never. A small Imperial fleet has been detected by long range scanners, and though small in number, they have a Super Star Destroyer with them. We're going to need to find allies that are willing to assist immediately, as we've got two hours at most until the fleet begins their assault."

"Executor, Assertor, or Bellator?" The Echani replied, looking up from a meditative stance. "Should it be the first two, we shall hold the advantage. Should it be the latter, then we shall truly have a fight on our hands."

"It is unknown as of yet, sensors only detected that it was a larger ship based on how far they were away. The news is still fresh to my ears, but I believe we should get working on rallying support immediately. In the case of the ship being a Bellator, we will need it."

Standing up, Vincent walked over to the comms unit on the wall and pressed a button. "Torque… access long range sensors, and the Utapau sensor net. Get a read on the approaching battle group. Give me the energy variance of the largest ship in the group. Place it on the display in this room." He let go of the unit and stood back as a screen lit up on the wall. It showed an image that could best be described as echoes in inverted light and various bits of data stringing off to the side. "There," He pointed at the screen. "The largest ship, is causing a hyperspace wake in the terraton scale. Bellator's produce smaller wakes because they are smaller and thinner, both the Assertor's and all known Executors give off much larger wakes." He turned back towards the former Hand. "I have a plan."

"Brilliant, lets hear it," replied Kev-Mas, the tone of his voice less panicked now. Kev-Mas may have been incredibly gifted in the Force and a formidable opponent in head on combat, but battle tactics was a finer skill that Vincent excelled at where Kev-Mas only had a rudimentary understanding. So, to hear that he had a grasp of the situation (at least from what it seemed) eased his nerves.

"Faster than light, no left or right." He motioned back at the screen. "It would cost them significant time between now and their arrival to drop out of hyperspace, reorient to another location, and then restart their trip here from another direction. In short, we know which way they are coming. We also know standard imperial tactics. First things first, we order our squadrons to go out just shy of the next planet's orbit. They are going to need as much of an anti-capital layout we can give them, even strapping weapons to hard points."

Grabbing a tunic and robe from a hangar by the door he slipped them on and bid Kev-Mas to follow him. "Standard imperial tactics have a battlegroup exit hyperspace past the farthest LaGrange point, not only to avoid gravity wells but to give each ship in the fleet the largest possible time to re-orient themselves. We can seed the few proton mines we have there as well as EM mines, it'll do nothing to the SSD but it might damage the smaller ships. When the ships do emerge from hyperspace, they are sensor blind for approximately four seconds, the EMPs from the mines will blind them at best for another 10. Our pilots will have 13 seconds to orient themselves towards the aft of the Super Star Destroyer, engage in a full burn towards the ship, and then disengage all unnecessary power… inertial will have to carry them across the distance."

"And what if they have reinforcements coming?" asked Kev-Mas, "If the Super Star Destroyer in question is an Assertor, from what I know of Imperial Protocol they should be flanked by Bellator and/or Mandator-class ships in standard fleet formations. They could be holding them back to catch us off guard."

"There are only two Assertor classes. The _Assertor_ herself, and the _Wrath._ The _Assertor_ and her entire battlegroup was part of the group that assisted in the battle of Endor… chances are she's been destroyed. The _Wrath_ was on the other side of the Core three weeks ago. I also imagine they're throwing every Bellator they can at Eshan and the middle rim right now since we know that that world managed to take the ones in that sector and use them against the empire." Stepping off the ships loading ramp he motioned for Kev-Mas to lead the way. "If it were an Assertor, and it had ships in waiting, we'd have detected them already. They wouldn't want their back up, two hours late."

"I'll trust your judgment on this one then," replied Kev-Mas, "This way."

Making his way towards the command center, Kev-Mas tapped his temple to open a comm transmission to General Vant. "General Vant, we have a plan. Get all squadrons to make micro-jumps just shy of the next planet's orbit. Once we arrive at the Command Center Vincent will fill you in on the rest."

Moments later they arrived at the complex. "I'll let you do the honors," said Kev-Mas to Vincent as he motioned towards the short and stocky Utai General.

"General," Vincent gave a curt bow, "In my time in Imperial Intelligence and the Inquisitorius I learned a lot about Imperial tactics, technical details, and operations. I can tell you that what is coming is about all that is going to come. If they had back up it would be within range with it, as they would not want 2 hours of waiting before backup arrives. I can also tell you that we are likely going up against one of the largest ships in the Imperial navy. But I have a plan."

Placing his arms behind him he clasped his hands together. "Both the Executor and the Assertor classes have extremely weak aft defenses. They are shielded yes, but they are not defended by much in the way of anti-ship or anti-fighter support. We need to seed the area, just past the farthest LaGrange point with as many EM and Proton mines as we can muster. This will allow fighters we are sending out near the orbital plane of the next planet to orient towards the Star Destroyers, and get in a few seconds of maximum thrust before having to cut power."

Taking in a breath he let it out, "Basically, we are going to need to keep the empire occupied, fighter tactics, full power to shields, only enough anti-capital fighter to keep them occupied. We need them focused on us, and this planet. Once our fighters from the rear are in range they can unleash anti-capital bombs and missiles, take out the ship's engines, with luck she'll be taken out of commission. However there is always the risk of secondary explosions destroying the ship… so do not expect to take another prize this day."

"So you're saying we're going to choke them out?" asked the General rhetorically, "It is unfortunate that we cannot expect to take the ship considering the tactical advantage a ship of that size would give us against any future invasions, but at the same time it would likely take too many resources for us to effectively field it either. Plus, as you said before it is likely that if we win today the Empire will have no choice but to discontinue any further efforts to retake the planet. We'll give it all we've got, for today we secure our independence."

Vant then looked at the pair of Force users and continued, "All thanks to you."

"We do this together General. Without you, we would stand no chance against these forces either." The Echani let out a hefty sigh, "Unity, peace. These were the promises, the dreams of the Empire. That Empires is dead, so we take those ideals and we drive back the darkness that killed it and hope to build something new, something better, where unity is not a lie, and peace is not enforced by fear and hate." He gave the general one more bow, "I will report to the _Wolvesbane_ , and help organize the fleet in orbit. I doubt they will expect a ship this small hiding behind a Dreadnought to be a command ship. I will see you on the other side."

"I will have the _Wraith_ assisting Vincent with anti-starfighter coverage, but cloaked until needed," added Kev-Mas, "While their ships are weak in the rear, they do have a hefty Starfighter complement that could cause some problems for us. The _Wraith_ is quite capable at dealing with starfighters and should provide an excellent level of insurance. However, I am better suited to combat outside of a ship and I will remain on the planet's surface preparing troops for engagement."

"Something tells me you just like to smash heads in," added Vincent with a smirk, "Fair enough, the _Wraith_ 's assistance will be a much appreciated added insurance regardless of whether it is you or Captain Tersil that is commanding it."

"Correct," answered Kev-Mas with a pause, "...on both points."

General Vant's rounded mouth gaped a little bit in shock towards Kev-Mas' show of enthusiasm towards violent activities.

"Well then," he said, "Let us get underway…"

 **Utapau System**

 _ **ISC Wolvesbane, cloaked**_

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **1932 hours**

"The enemy fleet should be entering the system any moment now," informed Vincent, "Is the minefield laid out as requested?"

"Yes Commander," replied Cav, "We've got them spread out real nice. The enemy won't know what hit them."

"Good," replied Vincent, reaching for his comm, "All squads report in."

Immediately, he received 5 confirmation blips from the five squadrons that were composed of the droid fighters from the foundry - 2 _Vulture_ -class Interceptor squadrons and 3 _Hyena_ -class bomber squadrons. Shortly after the blips were followed by comm chatter from the squadrons manned by actual pilots.

"Red squadron reporting in."

"Black squadron reporting in."

"Gold squadron reporting in."

"Alright, well now we wa-" replied Vincent, who was quickly interrupted.

"Commander, them blasted imps are 'ere," interrupted Erty, pointing out the viewport towards the enemy fleet.

Several explosions went off as two _Victory_ -class Star Destroyers were disabled and one _Imperial_ -class Star Destroyer sustained heavy damage. Moments later the enemy launched 12 squadrons of TIE fighters, half of which were TIE Defenders, and half of which were _Scimitar_ bombers.

"Sir! TIE Defenders!" noted one of the officers onboard the _Wolvesbane_.

"Hmmm," mused Vincent, "This could complicate things."

Vincent commed the _Wraith_ , "Captain Tersil, I'm going to need your assistance immediately with the enemy TIEs."

"Already on it, Commander."

The _Wraith_ appeared out of the blank void of space and immediately began firing upon the enemy TIEs, immediately followed by the _Wolvesbane_ decloaking and dispatching them as well. The combined forces of the two ships plus cover from the Vulture Droids and P38s helped eliminate the threat and clear the way for bombing runs by the Hyena Droids and Skyforce Belbullab-24s, however the distraction allowed the _Scimitar_ bombers to do heavy damage on Skyforce capital ships. Furthermore, several drop ships had made it past the defenses and were headed towards the planet surface.

"Vincent here," he said over a comm to Kev-Mas, "expect company, a few dropships made it past our defenses."

 **Utapau, surface above Pau City**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **1941 hours**

"Alright!" replied Kev-Mas, "I've been itching for a fight. Bring it on!"

Kev-Mas then turned to his troops. "Okay men, we've got enemy dropships heading towards the surface. I want you to shoot down as many as you can and then engage them immediately. Don't let them come any further than this."

"Aye sir," nodded Captain Vosk.

"Roger, roger," replied one of the droids present in a deep mechanical voice. This droid, like others present looked much like a large B-1 Battle Droid but with four arms. Two of which were normal manipulator arms on the bottom grasping a blaster carbine, and two of which were on the top and featured heavy blaster cannons.

Moments later, several drop ships were sent crashing to the ground, and were quickly taken care of by Kev-Mas and his troops, however several more managed to land in a remote location and deployed forces that immediately started to make their way towards the defending forces.

Captain Vosk stood atop a perch and scanned the horizon with electrobinoculars.

"Sir, I can't see them anywhere."

"Captain Vosk, are you aware of the tactical advantages the terrain of this planet possess that can be used by anyone who sees fit to employ them?" replied Kev-Mas.

"No sir, enlighten me."

"Sinkholes. It is very likely that the enemy has hided inside of them and is using them to hide their staging area. Furthermore, the sun has set and they are working under the cover of night to hide their approach."

"Shadow troopers?"

"Yes. It looks like today we will be fighting against combatants as capable as ourselves."

Kev-Mas continued, "OOM-712, send a squad out to bring them out of hiding. Then we shall begin our main assault."

"Roger roger, deploying troops now."

 **Utapau, surface above Pau City**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)  
2001 hours**

"Uh ohhh," shouted one of the droids in warning as an ion grenade flew out of nowhere towards the middle of them, disabling all but one of the squad. Shortly after, the remaining droid was picked off by sniper fire.

Back with the other troops, Kev-Mas waved his hand over his temple to comm the squad.

"OOM-712, report in."

There was no reply but static.

"That's stra- wait a minute, I sense an Inquisitor. They just gave away their position…"

Shortly after that, 3 Inquisitors came flying towards Kev-Mas' troops, accompanied by several Shadow Stormtroopers.

"Stang!" cursed Kev-Mas, who then let loose a torrent of electrical force energy towards some of the enemy Shadowtroopers, while his forces engaged the rest and he focused on the Inquisitors.

Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Kev-Mas disengaged his lightsaber.

"It just figures it'd take 3 of you to defeat me. Very well, I surrender."

 **Utapau System**

 _ **ISC Wolvesbane**_

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2037 hours**

"Have we gotten any word of how things are going back on the surface from Commander Colcha?" Vincent asked.

"Negative sir. Do you want me to try and contact him?" replied Cav.

"No, I will contact him myself."

Several explosions broke out as an enemy _Imperial_ -class Star Destroyer broke into two.

"Now all that's left is the big one, focus all fire!" ordered Vincent.

"Sir, we're detecting several hyperspace signatures coming in!" interjected a crewman.

"Are they Imperial?"

"Negative sir, it's the Rebellion!"

Just then a large fleet of ships exited hyperspace into the system. There were 3 MC-80 Cruisers, 1 _Imperial II_ , 5 Nebulon Bs and 10 CR-90s.

"Kriffing sithspit, I sure do hope they're friendly… Open hailing frequencies. I want to make sure they know that their assistance is needed and appreciated."

"Rebel fleet, this is Vincent, ex-Imperial assisting the Utapau Skyforce defend their newly independent planet from an Imperial Invasion force. Your assistance would be most appreciated. Although we seem to have the space battle well under control and were about to destroy their flagship before you got here, I haven't heard back from the troops on the surface and there was reports of enemy dropships landing."

"Skyforce, this is General Carlist Rieekan of the Rebel Alliance Fleet. We would be happy to assist provided Utapau would be open to joining the Alliance."

"We actually meant to contact you before under more… peaceful circumstances, but then we were quickly interrupted by this invasion. Just hurry, I fear that they may have some of our men taken prisoner."

"Acknowledged, we're sending an extraction team to assist."

 **Utapau**

 **Imperial Forward Base Camp**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2101 hours**

Kev-Mas stood bound in force proof restraints as an Inquisitor looked upon him mockingly. This Inquisitor was of an advanced age and had clearly been alive much before the start of the Clone Wars, probably having been a Jedi in the past, ****

"I'll have you know that your pathetic little attempt at freedom will be short lived, traitor. I've been studying Sith alchemy in my down time, and I've discovered that a talisman such as the one implanted inside your brain can be bound to another alchemist once the original creator dies."

"You pathetic swine, the Emperor would have skinned you alive for such heresy."

The inquisitor stroked his long white beard, "But he's not alive anymore now, is he? It's quite ironic that the talisman placed inside the hand of the former Emperor, will help bring forth my rise to the throne."

"You're out of your mind. Maybe if I told those other two Inquisitors about that silly little plan of yours they'd kill you and it'd all fall apart."

The Inquisitor chuckled, "Oh, that's not necessary. They are very much aware, but very much unable to raise a fist against me. You see, I made talismans for them as well. They are but loyal servants and instruments of my rise to power."

Just then, the sounds of fighting leaked in from outside as Y-Wings flew overhead making bombing runs and Rebel Special Forces made a surprise attack.

"Well well well… how the mighty have fallen," mocked the Inquisitor, "aligning yourself with Rebel scum? The Emperor would be ashamed."

Before Kev-Mas could make a reply, the Inquisitor leapt outside to engage the enemy. Moments later, he heard the sound of a lightsaber cutting through the wall. Shortly after it was followed by a portion of the wall being pushed in and a figure dressed in black leaping through, green lightsaber blazing.

Kev-Mas looked at him strangely, "Jedi?"

The figure replied with a smile. "The name is Luke Skywalker; I'm here to rescue you."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Talisman Terror

 **Utapau**

 **Imperial Forward Base Camp**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2119 hours**

"It's funny that you're here to rescue someone that was given orders by the late Emperor Palpatine to kill you." greeted Kev-Mas.

"But it is quite obvious that you are no friend of the Empire anymore," replied Luke.

"They kind of gave me no choice," Kev-Mas explained.

"It is my obligation as a Jedi to help those in need, and my duty as a soldier of the Rebel Alliance to protect the enemies of the Empire," elaborated Luke, swinging his lightsaber to destroy the force cage holding Kev-Mas and setting him free.

Using the Force, Kev-Mas called his lightsaber from a table at the edge of the room and began working with Luke to free his troops, cutting them loose from their binders one by one and arming them with their weapons.

"Alright Luke," said Kev-Mas, "we need to force the Empire off of the planet for good, but we need to make sure that the Inquisitors here don't escape alive."

"I can help get the Empire off the planet but I'm not going to help you on a personal quest for vengeance," lectured Luke.

"It's not vengeance," explained Kev-Mas, "They pose a serious threat to the Galaxy. Essentially they've figured out how to use sith magic to implant talismans into the heads of force users and turn them into mindslaves."

Kev-Mas continued, "Two of those Inquisitors are mindslaves of the other. The other... well he thinks he's the next Emperor."

Luke's eyes widened at this revelation.

"Stang. That is important."

"Now let's get going," replied Kev-Mas, they're probably tearing your troops apart right now.

The darkness and tranquility of the night was interrupted by explosions from the space battle above. It had seemed that the _Executor_ -class in orbit had been destroyed, and the explosions were lighting up the night sky like fireworks from an Empire Day parade.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," mocked the grey bearded Inquisitor towards Kev-Mas, swinging his lightsaber staff at him, "enlisting not only the help of the filthy rebel scum, but their Jedi mascot too!"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," replied Kev-Mas, bringing his saber up to defend himself against the Inquisitor's blow, parrying it off to the side.

"You have been defeated and there's nowhere to run," Kev-Mas continued, pointing up to the explosions above.

"Your Empire is dead old man," mocked Luke, as he bisected one of the Inquisitors in two, "surrender now and you'll be given a fair trial."

"How dare you speak to the Emperor, Jedi scum!" replied the Inquisitor angrily, sending Kev-Mas flying with a burst of Force Lightning.

As Kev-Mas got up, he continued.

"I, Emperor Caiphas Coldrinn shall have total control over all! Palpatine was a fool to try to exterminate the Jedi when he could've controlled them! I shall enslave all Jedi and heretic force users and command them to do my bidding! Starting with you, Skywalker!"

"And then when you die, all of your little slaves will destroy your Empire," mocked Kev-Mas, swinging a large overhand swing at Caiphas, "you've gone senile, and I'm going to put you out of your misery."

The other remaining Inquisitor then swung at Luke, who blocked his attack and followed through with a sai cha strike, separating his head from his body.

Luke then went to assist Kev-Mas with Caiphas.

Kev-Mas managed to land a blow to Caiphas' shoulder and Luke sent him flying, but moments later a TIE Defender appeared out of thin air and opened fire on the two.

While Luke and Kev-Mas concentrated on deflecting the weapons fire, Caiphas leapt into the fighter and flew off, vanishing into the night.

"Blast it!" swore Kev-Mas, "now I have to figure out how to remove the talisman in my head."

"Wait what?!" exclaimed Luke, "Wouldn't that give him control over you? Why were you fighting him then?"

"The talisman in _my_ head is bound to the will of a different Emperor," explained Kev-Mas, "the one this clown is trying to replace. While it is still bound to the late Emperor Palpatine, Caiphas is making progress on figuring out a way to take control. If I don't remove it really soon, my freedom from having my mind subjugated by some old coot Emperor will be over real quick."

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." whined Luke.

"Anyways," replied Kev-Mas, "I need to comm Vincent and tell him to keep an eye out for our self proclaimed Emperor."

Kev-Mas pressed a hand down on his temple and brought up his comm link.

"Vincent," he began, "Colcha here."

 **Utapau System**

 _ **ISC Wolvesbane**_

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2137 hours**

Vincent overlooked the floating wreckage of the large Star Destroyer with a smirk. The Empire had fought until the last man was standing, and had lost everything.

Just then he received the message from Kev-Mas, but there was a bunch of static in the transmission.

"Adjust your comm frequency," replied Vincent, "I'm experiencing a great deal of interference."

Kev-Mas attempted to reply, "There is a _-bzzzt-_ t _-fzzzzzzzz-_ ".

The communication then fizzled out.

"Stang," muttered Vincent, "something must be interfering with our communications."

"Erty," he ordered, "see if you can't figure out what's going on."

"It appears we're bein' jammed, sir, but I can't trace the source," replied Erty.

"Well then it must be related to the ground battle below," replied Vincent, unaware of the fact that the battle was over and they were being jammed by Inquisitor Caiphas in an attempt to escape, "we're going down to investigate."

 **Utapau, surface above Imperial Base Camp**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2140 hours**

"Dammit," cursed Kev-Mas, "I'm being jammed. Looks like we're going to have to figure out how to remove this talisman after all."

Luke nodded, "I need to get back to my friends and report this information to them, but I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as I can."

Kev-Mas nodded at Luke as he ran off, using the Force to accelerate his speed.

 **Utapau, above Kev-Mas' position**

 _ **ISC Wolvesbane**_

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2215 hours**

"That's quite the scene," mused Vincent looking down below at the charred wreckage and corpses scattered below, brought to light by the strobe lamps on the _Wolvesbane_ , "Let's hope Kev-Mas isn't one of those casualties."

"There he is, down there with his troops," interjected Cav, as the light began to shine on Kev-Mas and the Stormtroopers present with him… or what was left of them. The troopers present in the battle took heavy casualties and were down to just a single squad of 10.

"Looks like I spoke too soon," replied Vincent with a smile, "bring her in for a landing."

Moments later, the _Wolvesbane_ was on the ground and Vincent was catching up with Kev-Mas on what happened.

"So that's why you commed me," said Vincent, "I had thought you were calling for aid."

"No, the Inquisitior who jammed our transmissions did it to ensure his getaway," explained Kev-Mas, "he escaped in a TIE Defender outfitted with a cloaking device, but even he knew that wouldn't be enough to escape. So he jammed our comm frequencies so we couldn't coordinate, giving him an opening."

"And you couldn't have just killed him?" replied Vincent.

"No," replied Kev-Mas, "This Inquisitor was more… capable than the others that I have fought before, and he had two others with him. I did get his name though. Caiphas Coldrinn."

"I know that name," replied Vincent, "Caiphas seemed rather odd… always tinkering with Alchemy, pushing the limits of what Sith lore we were allowed to study by the Emperor."

"Sounds like him… he was after me for my talisman," replied Kev-Mas.

"That can't be good," mused Vincent.

"Oh it most certainly is not," replied Kev-Mas, "Meet me at my apartment tomorrow at 0900 hours. I'll explain the rest there."

 **Utapau**

 **Pau City, Apartment Complex**

 **39:3:10 (4 ABY)**

 **2302 hours**

Luke touched Kev-Mas' head and reached out to the Force.

"Hmm. Interesting. It seems as if this can't be removed by a simple surgery. Not without killing you, anyways. "

"Why is that?" asked Kev-Mas.

"I... I can't tell yet," Luke replied, "Somehow I just know. The Force is strange like that. But there's more... it's a dark presence. But it's vague."

"The dark side clouds everything" sighed Kev-Mas, "I think I need to meditate on this. Meet me back here in the morning at 0900 hours. There's someone else I want you to meet."

Luke nodded. "I'll see you in the morning then. May the Force be with you."

Kev-Mas smiled and nodded as Luke headed out the door, "as well as with you, Master Skywalker."

 **Utapau**

 **Pau City, Apartment Complex**

 **39:3:11 (4 ABY)**

 **0905 hours**

"Alright," began Kev-Mas, "So first things first, Vincent, I'd like you to meet Luke Skywalker."

"I know who he is," stated Vincent.

"Luke is a Jedi Knight, and perhaps the last remaining one," added Kev-Mas.

"Like my father before me," replied Luke.

"Lord Vader was a Dark Lord of the Sith," corrected Vincent, "he was no Jedi."

"But in the end, he was Anakin Skywalker," Luke corrected back, "the Jedi Knight he was before he was corrupted by the Emperor."

"Hm?" replied Vincent, his curiosity piqued.

"I'll tell you more later," replied Luke, "for now, let's let Kev-Mas begin his briefing."

"Alright," began Kev-Mas, "So, I do believe I have told both of you about the Sith Talisman inside my head that the Emperor used to control me, correct?"

Vincent and Luke nodded.

"Good. Well, these talismans can only be bound to the Sith Alchemist who placed them and are rendered useless after the Alchemist died, so I thought that after Emperor Palpatine died that I would be free forever."

"But you were wrong, " added Luke.

"I was wrong," continued Kev-Mas, nodding his head, "the Inquisitor known as Caiphas Coldrinn has discovered that it is possible to take control of an individual possessing a talisman made by a dead Alchemist and is already making progress in his studies on it. Thankfully he hadn't figured it out when he had captured me last night."

"So that's where you went..." replied Vincent, rolling his eyes.

Kev-Mas glared. "...yes... but anyways, this Inquisitor already knows how to create and implant these talismans, and has used them to remove all opposition to his rise to the throne. He had two Inquisitors with him who were but mere pawns bound to his will."

"All Force users are at risk of being captured by him and being turned into his mindslaves," continued Kev-Mas, "as of right now he is focused on me and me alone. You are both putting yourselves at risk by being with me, so I suggest that we part ways for the time being."

"I have to report back to the Alliance anyways," replied Luke, "but I will see to it that we put forth an effort into disrupting Imperial fleet movements to take some pressure off of you."

Kev-Mas nodded, "Thank you Skywalker, this will help me focus on finding out how to remove the talisman."

"And I'll do the same to the best of my efforts," replied Vincent, "I'll work on disrupting Imperial supply convoys... Like a pirate."

"Every Pirate needs a fleet," added Kev-Mas, "I'll take my fighter on my journey and add the _Wraith_ and my troops to your complement. They'll serve you well."

"I think perhaps you should take the _Wolvesbane_." The Echani put forward. "I will take good care of your men, and you can do the same for mine. It will also allow me to give you access to all the files and documents I have on Dark Side Alchemy, Talismans, and Sith artifacts."

"Thank you, that should prove most useful," replied Kev-Mas, "We need to prepare to make our departures as soon as possible."

"Even you?" asked Luke.

"I am now a person of interest to the Empire, and have a large target painted on my back," explained Kev-Mas, "Staying on Utapau while the Empire knows I'm here puts the planet at risk. The people of Utapau are still trying to rebuild, and they do not need or deserve that added stress. I need a place to go to hide for a while and study the files on the _Wolvesbane_."

"I may know of a planet, one with some other additional advantages that may prove useful to you," suggested Luke, "But this place needs to be for your ears only."

Kev-Mas looked at Vincent, "You can take your leave now, Vincent. Meet up with my troops on the _Wraith_ and begin briefing them."

Vincent nodded, and left the room.

"Anyways, as I was saying," continued Luke after Luke left the room, "There is a planet in the neighboring Sluis Sector. It is only reachable by obscure hyperlanes and is devoid of any advanced civilization, making it very hard to track you there. Furthermore, it is writhing with the living force. If you go there and meditate, you are certain to find the guidance needed to solve your problems."

"Intriguing, it sounds like you've been there before," replied Kev-Mas.

"You must go to Dagobah, the final resting place of Jedi Master Yoda, who taught me a great deal about the ways of the Force before he passed onto the Netherworld of the Force."

"It seems like you're trying to convert me to your Jedi ways…" mused Kev-Mas, "But I suppose this is the best lead I have."

"I will admit that seeing you become a fellow Jedi would be most satisfying to me, as I have goals of rebuilding the Jedi order," admitted Luke, "But I'm no fool, and trying to convert you at the risk of losing everything I fought for in the past few years would not be in the best interests for either of us. I'm simply assisting you to the best of my abilities. Which in this case happen to be related to my Jedi training."

Kev-Mas nodded, "Well… you're putting a great deal of trust in me by telling me what you have. So I guess I need to return the favor. Thank you for the assistance, and well… if it weren't for you the Galaxy would be well on the way to falling back to the way it used to be."

Luke nodded, "Thank you. Let's just hope our trust is well placed. The fate of the galaxy rests in our hands."

"For now, all I'm concerned about is becoming a puppet of yet another Emperor," chuckled Kev-Mas, "Everything else can wait."

"Fair enough," nodded Luke, "But I'm afraid I must get going now, I've kept the fleet waiting far too long."

"Yes," replied Kev-Mas, "I've kept you long enough. I'll let you return to the Rebel fleet now. May the Force be with you."

"And with you," Luke replied with a smile.

* * *

 _Later_

"I do not know if I should thank you, or kill you." The former inquisitor's voice was cold, but not wholly heartless as the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker walked out of his short private meeting with Kev-Mas.

To his credit, the young man did not seem to be affected by the other man's words, and made no motions towards his own weapon, though the Inquisitor stood with his staff at rest. "Not sure if you still wish to be against the empire?" The young Skywalker finally asked.

"No," the Echani replied, taking in a deep breath and looking out at the damaged ships that hovered quietly above the pitted surface of Utapau. "My Empire is dead. It died long ago, at the hands of men with petty agendas, at the behest of a Sith Lord." He lifted a gloved hand, looking down at it, gripping it tightly into a fist.

"Palpatine took everything from me Skywalker. Stole me from a family I will never know, raised me to be a tool. A weapon for his will. Placed me with others. My brothers. My sisters. The point of his spear, the bane of his foes. His Shadow Guard." Letting out his breath he turned back to the Jedi, "He ordered their death, countless loyal and skilled soldiers who would have given their lives to serve him, and he cast them aside as trash. He was mine to kill. Not yours."

"I didn't kill the Emperor." The blue eyed man replied, also looking out at the ships. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me. It was Anakin Skywalker who ended the reign of Palpatine, in the saving of my life."

"I see," The Inquisitor replied placing a hand back behind his back and again looking outward. "I know better than most, the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. He'd ever right to Sidious as I had. And perhaps, the right idea."

"Oh?"

"You've called him Anakin, not once Vader. Vader was, an embodiment of terror. A pure manifestation of the Emperor's will. But Anakin skywalker, you say, in the end was something else." The Echani looked down at himself, his tarnished robes, the dirt on his boots. "I have been SG-B7936, loyal Shadow Guard. And Vincent, High Inquisitor of the Galactic Empire. I have never been anything but a tool, a Vader, if you will. Never myself."

The young man nodded slowly, "And now you can be. The question is what will you become?"

"I have only ever known darkness Skywalker. No silver linings, no unyielding hope."

"There is always darkness Inquisitor. It is how we face it that shapes us."

"Wise words, but not your own I think."

"Guilty as charged."

"Indeed." Collapsing his staff, he hooked it to his belt and clasped his hands behind his back. "If you, young Jedi, are the bright bastion of light, intend to lead this Galaxy into another bright Golden Age where the Jedi are again it's saviors then you are indeed right, there will always be Darkness."

"Wherever there is light, a Shadow is cast." Luke amended.

"Yes," Turning to the Jedi, the Inquisitor locked his eyes on the younger man's. "You stand in the light, young Jedi, and bring forth this renewed hope. I, will stand in the shadows."

"So you will stand against me?" the Jedi asked, eyebrow raised.

"No, for so long as I am in your shadow, I shall have your back."

A smile creased the young man's lips, "So that is what you shall become? A pillar in the dark?"

"Indeed." He looked back down at his hands, clenching them now with a new resolute sense of self. "I am no longer what I was, from here forth, I will be something new. Something on my own terms. Lord Victus, a new life, a new title."

"A very Sith like title."

"True, but a fitting one." He reached out, and took the Jedi's hand. "There is still a war to fight Skywalker, and darkness still looms. Go cast some shadows."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Shadows of the Past

 **Pau City  
Utapau  
Docking Bay 29**

 **39:3:11 (4 ABY)**

 **1205 hours**

Kev-Mas entered the docking bay and observed the _Wolvesbane_. This was going to be his new home for quite some time now, so he decided to come onboard give it a good once over.

Entering the ship he was greeted with a salute by the troopers onboard.

"At ease, men. I'm just going to be making my inspection of this ship and then we're going to be taking off. I'll be briefing you shortly."

"Do you mind if I asked you where we're going?" asked one of the troops.

"Cav, isn't it?" replied Kev-Mas.

"That's correct Commander, I remember that we've met already," replied Cav.

"Yes, that's right. Well, we're going to a backwater system that you probably haven't heard of. That's all you need to know for now," explained Kev-Mas.

"Yes sir," saluted Cav as he and the rest of the troops went off to their stations.

Kev-Mas chuckled.

" _I bet the Empire loved him,"_ he thought to himself.

Kev-Mas then turned to the console in front of him and waved his hand over his temple to bring up a full readout of the ship's systems to his heads up display.

" _Hm, very nice, it seems like Vincent made quite a few modifications. Definitely not a stock VT-49. It's got a cloaking device and stealth systems too, which should be most useful as well. He set me up quite well if I do say so myself. This will do."_

Kev-Mas then logged out of the console and left towards the turbolift. ****

Exiting the turbolift onto the bridge, Kev-Mas then waved his hand over his temple once more, and accessed the ship's intercom system.

"All hands report to the bridge for a briefing before we disembark."

 **-**

"Alright men, here's the deal," began Kev-Mas, "You won't likely be getting much action for the first few days under my command, but that's a good thing."

"Where we goin' Commander?" asked one of the troopers.

"Erty, right?" replied Kev-Mas.

"Yessir," replied Erty.

"Well Erty, we're going to the Dagobah system. To hide while I figure out how to get this thing out of my head."

"Couldn't you just get it surgically removed, sir?" asked Cav.

"Not without killing me," replied Kev-Mas, "It's a Sith talisman that the Emperor used to control me. It's how he guaranteed my complete devotion to serving him. I have to remove it before an Inquisitor who thinks he's the next Emperor can figure out how to use it to serve the exact same purpose as it did for the late Emperor Palpatine."

"This Force stuff always has to make things so friggin' complicated," commented Erty.

Kev-Mas chuckled and replied, "From what I recall you like to learn things, right?"

"Yessir," replied Erty with a nod.

"Well maybe one of these days I'll help clear up some of the confusion you might have about this 'force stuff'," replied Kev-Mas.

"But I thought I wasn't allowed to know that stuff boss?" replied Erty.

"Not anymore," replied Kev-Mas, "With your resourcefulness I could use someone to gather more information on this sort of thing. All I'm doing is making sure you know what information you need to gather."

"I'd be delighted to help, Commander," replied Erty.

"Good," replied Kev-Mas, "Now lets get this ship off the ground, shall we?"

 **-**

Kev-Mas flipped the various switches in the cockpit running through the initial diagnostics checks before taking off. Guiding the ship up into orbit above Utapau he commed SkyForce leaving his farewell message.

"SkyForce, this is Commander Colcha, I am now a target of interest of the Empire and my staying here puts your lives in danger. I do believe that you have enough forces now to take care of yourselves however, so I will be seeking asylum at a new planet now."

"I'm sorry to hear that Commander Colcha, but the Utapaun people have your utmost gratitude and thanks for your service," replied the voice of General Vant over the comm, "We could not have broken free of the grips of the Empire if it were not for your valiant efforts. We are forever in your debt, and should you ever return to Utapau we will welcome you graciously."

"Thank you General Vant," replied Kev-Mas, "Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

Disconnecting the comm transmission Kev-Mas then turned to Cav, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat.

"Cav, set a course for the Dagobah System," ordered Kev-Mas.

Cav nodded and pushed forward a lever that sent the ship lurching forward into the blue sea of hyperspace. ****

 **Dagobah System**

 _ **ISC Wolvesbane**_

 **39:3:11 (4 ABY)**

 **1746 hours**

The ship exited hyperspace into the Dagobah system and Kev-Mas began to make his approach towards the planet.

"Sir, we're detecting no signs of civilization or technology," interjected Erty, "Why'd ya want to go to a primitive mudlump like that?"

"If you were the Empire, would you think to look for us here?" asked Kev-Mas rhetorically.

"No," replied Erty, "Hell, today's the first I ever heard of this place."

Kev-Mas formed his mouth into a smirk. "Bingo."

"Lets take her in for a landing now, shall we?" continued Kev-Mas, guiding the ship towards the planet, "I want to see what this planet is like up close and personal."

Approaching the atmosphere, Kev-Mas felt the planet's strong presence in the Force.

"Luke was right," mused Kev-Mas, "this planet is strong in the Force..."

Siren bleeps went off in the cockpit as the ship began hurtling towards the planet out of control.

"Sir!" exclaimed Cav, "We've lost navigational control! We-"

"Calm yourself, Lieutenant," replied Kev-Mas, letting go of the controls and reaching out to the Force, "I've got this."

Just then, the ship's trajectory was halted and Kev-Mas began to guide it through the foggy skies of Dagobah till he found a suitable landing space above a small hill.

"Release the landing gear," Kev-Mas commanded calmly through his half meditative state, "Manual override."

"Uhh," replied Erty, somewhat dumbfounded by what was going on, "I'm on it, Commander."

The ship's landing struts popped out and the entry ramp opened up as Kev-Mas guided it down to the soft, muddy terrain below them.

The ship set down with a soft thud and Kev-Mas came out of his trance.

"All set," he mused, "Another happy landing."

Erty and Cav both looked at Kev-Mas funnily.

"What?" asked Kev-Mas.

"Oh um, nothing Commander," replied Cav.

"At ease, men," calmed Kev-Mas, "You're not in the Empire anymore. I'm not going to get on your case for looking at me a certain way or speaking freely. And you don't have to worry about calling me 'sir' or 'commander'. Address me like I'm one of your peers."

The two nodded. "Got it mate," acknowledged Erty.

"Follow me," continued Kev-Mas as he gestured the two to follow him outside of the ship.

Once outside, he pointed towards a small clearing in the swamp at the base of the hill they stood atop.

"Set up camp in that small clearing," ordered Kev-Mas, "I'm going to go do some exploring but I won't be too far away in case you need me."

 **-**

Kev-Mas had been walking through the swampland for some time now, and despite that felt as fresh and full of energy as he was when he had started. His proficiency in the use of the Force had allowed him to use the strong Force presence to strengthen himself. However, the same presence was beginning to affect his mind.

"It feels almost as if I'm dreaming," he said to himself, "Like nothing here is really as it seems."

Just then he came upon what appeared to be an opening to a cave.

"I feel cold… death… That cave is strong with the Dark Side of the Force."

A voice called out to him, which was the same voice he heard in his vision a couple days ago on Utapau.

" _In you must go…"_

"But why?", Kev-Mas replied.

" _To find yourself!"_ answered the voice.

"Well that's… odd," thought Kev-Mas to himself, "I really don't like the idea of obeying a voice in my head again, but somehow… something tells me I need to."

Stepping into the cave, Kev-Mas felt a chill run down his spine. From deep within he heard footsteps and felt a familiar presence in the Force, but what was odd about it is that he was unable to tell _why_ it was familiar. It's almost as if it was someone he had met in the past but had lost memory of.

 **-**

Erty, Cav and the rest of the troops had finished setting up camp and were holding a hearty discussion while they ate their dinner.

"So that Colcha fellow is a real strange one," chuckled Cav, "He sure is going out of his way to make sure we know we're not in the Empire anymore. Seems odd to me that a former Emperor's Hand would just cut ties so easily."

"Well he said that piece of sorcery in his head has something to do with it," replied Erty, "He's said the blasted thing allowed the Emperor to enslave him… like he didn't have any choice in what he did serving the Empire."

"Bah! Just a bunch of fairytale nonsense if you ask me," interjected a trooper from the back of the room, "It's probably just another made up piece of propaganda just like the ones on those bogus posters we used to post up in starports."

"Mind your tongue, Skepto," accosted Cav, "Colcha may have allowed us to speak freely but I seriously doubt he'd let you get away with saying such things as that."

"Wait a minute," cut in Erty, "With all this talk of Colcha, has anyone heard anything from 'im since he went pokin' around out yonder?"

"Now that you mention it, we haven't," replied the trooper sitting next to Cav.

"Go ahead and try and reach him over comms then, Dar," replied Cav, "We should've heard back from him by now and if he's in trouble then so are we."

 **-**

Kev-Mas began to feel the familiar force presence grow stronger as he progressed into the cave.

"Whatever this thing is, it's strong in the Dark Side of the Force," he said to himself, "Almost as if the Dark presence in this cave is coming from it."

Just then, a figure dressed in black came out of the shadows and ignited a red bladed lightsaber.

Getting a closer look at it, Kev-Mas shook his head in disbelief. The figure looked _exactly_ like Kev-Mas.

"No… it can't be…"

The same voice that spoke to Kev-Mas outside the cave then called out to him.

" _What stands before you is but a shadow of who you are. It is your former self."_

"Is this what you meant by finding myself?" replied Kev-Mas as his doppelganger walked towards him.

" _No… that is not who you are, but what you used to be. To find yourself, you must defeat the shadows of the past."_

The figure swung his lightsaber at Kev-Mas, who activated his saber just in time to block it.

Kev-Mas used the Force to shove the figure away, and then rushed after him swinging his lightsaber fiercely in an overhand blow.

 **-**

"I'm not getting any signal from his comlink," informed Dar, "The weather on this planet is causing too much interference."

"I reckon that's why there ain't no civilized life on this buggin' planet," mused Erty, "With no way to communicate with each other it makes sense that nobody would bother to colonize here."

"That's nice Erty, but we've got more important things to worry about than that," interjected Cav urgently, "We need to go figure out where Colcha went."

"I guess that's where I come in," replied another trooper as he put on his helmet. The helmet was like a standard shadow stormtrooper helmet except that it was equipped with a rangefinder.

"You know it Seeker!" replied Erty enthusiastically, patting him on the back and causing him to stumble slightly, "Lead the way."

Seeker sighed, "I reaallly wish you'd stop doing that."

"Anyways," he continued, "The best place to start is where we saw him last. Thankfully the ground is awfully muddy and his tracks are so obvious that you'd have to be blind to miss them."

 **-**

The doppelganger swung at Kev-Mas and missed, and Kev-Mas responded with a kick to his chest, sending the figure flying.

Oddly enough, as he landed his blow on the impostor he felt pain in his own chest, as if he actually hit himself. As if he was actually… fighting against himself.

However, where the doppelganger was sent flying from the kick, Kev-Mas just felt the pain from it. Meaning he could still "kill" him, but it would just hurt a whole lot.

Kev-Mas rushed forwards, pushing the figure against the cave wall. The doppelganger then backpedaled and leapt over Kev-Mas and swung at his back in an underhanded sweep. He winced out in pain as the impostor's lightsaber singed his shoulder. Strangely enough, however, he recoiled as well, as if their pain was indeed linked to each other.

 **-**

"That's odd," said Seeker, pointing his E-11's lamp towards the ground, "the tracks appear to be going straight into this rock."

"But that's impossible," replied Erty, "You can't just walk into a fraggin' rock, mate."

Seeker shrugged, "The tracks say a different story."

"That's odd indeed then," replied Cav, "Any idea how this might have happened?"

Erty then shined his lamp on the rock, "Well I was gonna say this was some kind of cave that got sealed up or somethin'. There'd have to be some sort of visible cracks on the rock wall here though and I don't see any of that."

"It's as good a guess as any though," suggested Cav, "Try placing some detonators at the base of the rock to see what happens."

"What a waste of perfectly good explosives," said another trooper with a sigh as he reluctantly began to place the charges.

"It won't be if my hunch is correct, Nade," replied Cav.

"Yeah but that's _if_ it's correct," replied Nade, "But as much as I hate to take chances, you're in charge here. Let's fall back to a safe distance and I'll trigger the charges by remote."

 **-**

The doppelganger swung at Kev-Mas, who then reached out with the Force to his shoulder wound, and forced it open further. As the impostor stumbled back further, Kev-Mas strangely didn't feel the same pain.

"Hm… so I only feel the wounds I inflict when I inflict them, but not when they are opened further," he thought to himself, "Good to know."

Kev-Mas then swung at the doppelganger underneath him and fell into a blade lock. The lock was cut short as the cave began to shake and tremble, knocking both Kev-Mas and his shadow off balance.

Just then debris began to fall from the ceiling of the cave, and Kev-Mas took advantage of this situation. Reaching out to the Force, he grabbed a falling stalactite and hurled it at his doppelganger.

Dodging the debris, the impostor then leapt at Kev-Mas swinging his blade in a wide sweeping arc, and he replied by thrusting his lightsaber into it's chest.

Kev-Mas felt a sharp piercing pain in his chest as the figure slumped to the ground and disappeared into the shadows.

The voice then called out to Kev-Mas again.

" _You cannot let go of your past without great pain and difficulty… but it is not impossible, as you have learned today. Now go… meditate on this and you will be even closer to the new dawn."_

"But who are you?" replied Kev-Mas.

" _All you need to know is that I know how to find what you are seeking."_

The cave then began to collapse and that's when Kev-Mas knew he needed to get out of there.

Using the Force to enhance his speed, he quickly made his way back in the direction he came.

"Sir, the charges didn't do anything," complained Nade, "I had a feeling this wouldn't work."

"Blast it," replied Cav, "I guess we're gonna have to report back to Vincent then."

"Damn," said Erty, "I was beginnin' to like the bugger too."

Kev-Mas then walked through what appeared to be a rock to the troopers, but was actually the entrance to the cave for him.

"Sir, I see him," pointed out Seeker, looking ahead with his rangefinder, "He's… walking through the rock."

"You must be seein' things, Seeker," replied Erty, reaching for a pair of electrobinoculars, "There's no way that's possible."

"Look in front of you, Erty," said Seeker.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Kev-Mas as he came upon the group.

"It's been over two hours since our last contact and your commlink was unreachable due to the weather conditions on this mudball," replied Cav, "So we went out looking for you."

"Has it really been that long?" asked Kev-Mas rhetorically, "I guess the Force presence on this planet is affecting my perception of time. Oh well, let's get back to camp. We all could use some rest."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Full Retreat

 **Kuat system  
** _ **Dominator**_

 **39:3:11 (4 ABY)**

 **2134 hours**

Inquisitor, or as he would wish you to believe, Emperor Caiphas Coldrinn stood on the bridge of the _Executor_ -class Star Dreadnought, _Dominator_. The _Dominator_ was to replace the his old flagship that he lost at Utapau. The ship had just come out of drydock and Caiphas was performing his initial inspection of the ship and crew.

"Very good," nodded Caiphas, "This will do. For now."

"You there," continued Caiphas, pointing to an officer on the bridge, "Set course for the Naboo system. We're going to recover some vital information from the former Emperor's Retreat."

"Sir, I have a name," replied the officer, "it-"

"No you do not," interrupted Caiphas, "You are but a tool of the Empire. An inferior pawn to be used and expended at my command."

Caiphas paused, and then continued lecturing the officer, "Would a technician name his spanner? No. Now do as I asked and set course for the Naboo system, before I show you exactly how expendable you really are."

The officer swallowed hard out of fear, "Y-yes my lord. Right away."

 **Dagobah**

 **Base Camp**

 **39:3:12 (4 ABY)**

 **0700 hours**

Kev-Mas was experiencing another vision in his sleep. The voice he had encountered before spoke to him again, giving him guidance.

 _The answers you seek are not on this planet, but the clairvoyance to find them are. To break free of the chains of your past, you must travel to the homeworld of your former oppressor. You will find clues in a building which name holds considerable irony given the circumstances._

Kev-Mas woke up suddenly, rubbing over his cybernetic eyes to activate them.

"The Emperor's Retreat on Naboo!" he thought aloud, "why... didn't I think of that before? I wonder if my cipher codes will still get me in."

Wasting no time, Kev-Mas immediately got dressed and started gathering his things to depart. Finishing up, he sounded the morning alarm to wake his troops and call them out for a quick briefing.

* * *

"Alright men, it appears that our stay here is over," began Kev-Mas, "I've received some… information about what it is that I am seeking, and it seems like we need to go to the former Emperor's Retreat on Naboo."

"You must be out of your mind Commander." replied Seeker, "Even after the death of the Emperor, that place is probably crawling with imps."

"Yes, and crawling with imps who were closer to the Emperor than most," replied Kev-Mas, "Who would likely have more respect for me than the other ones like say… Caiphas. After all, nobody was closer to the Emperor than the members of his inner circle… such as yours' truly, the Emperor's Hand."

"You sure that's gonna work?" questioned Skepto, "Even after the whole thing with the Empire wanting you dead and all?"

"If my code cylinder can get us in there without a hitch, it's highly likely," explained Kev-Mas, "If they don't, then we'll know that diplomacy isn't an option before we're even noticed and we can move on to plan b."

"And that is?" asked Cav.

"We blast our way in, kill some troops and steal their armor for a disguise. Then we infiltrate and retrieve the information I'm searching for."

"But how will we explain the massive explosion?" asked Skepto.

Kev-Mas elaborated further, " _You_ will be stealing their armor.. Or rather trading armor. _I_ will be going without a disguise. I'll be in binders and be part of your cover story. Just say that you caught me trying to blow our way in and that you, now the troopers that confronted us eliminated all of the troops that our yours truly, captured me and are taking me to the brig."

"The plan is kinda risky," said Erty, "But it's the best we've got. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. I'd hate to have to ditch the Shadow Trooper armor. These fancy black suits aren't easy to come by."

"Unfortunately it's the best I've got right now," replied Kev-Mas, "Either way, we should get going now."

 **Naboo system  
** _ **Dominator**_

 **39:3:12 (4 ABY)**

 **1158 hours**

The blue sea of hyperspace faded from view on the viewport window of the Super Star Destroyer as the _Dominator_ came out of Hyperspace in the Naboo system.

"Have the fleet form a blockade of the system," ordered Caiphas, "I don't want anyone getting in or out. I have a feeling Colcha might be here or on his way and if he is then we can kill two birds with one stone on this trip."

The gaunt, aging Inquisitor stroked his long grayed beard and grinned.

"Finally, his will shall be bound to mine! Once it is he will lead me to Skywalker and help me capture him... The Jedi fools have been a blight on this Galaxy for far too long, and with the last of them under my control they will become all but extinct!" 

**Naboo system  
** _ **ISC Wolvesbane**_

 **Cloaked**

 **39:3:12 (4 ABY)**

 **1525 hours**

The _Wolvesbane_ arrived at the edge of the system and immediately activated the cloaking device onboard. As the ship traveled further in system Kev-Mas was going over the files pertaining to Sith Alchemy that Vincent had on board.

One file stood out particularly well, and that was the one on technobeasts. They didn't match Kev-Mas' situation exactly, seeing how technobeasts were far more machine than he is but they did come close. It seemed like the technique that Palpatine used on his implant was far more unique and secret than the others and very likely he was the first to do it. This would explain why Caiphas wasn't able to figure out how to seize control quite yet.

" _Speaking of Caiphas…_ " Kev-Mas thought to himself, " _He's here… I can sense him…"_

"Sir," began Cav, "the planet appears to be under a blockade by a rather large Imperial Fleet."

"It's Caiphas," replied Kev-Mas.

"How do you know?" replied Skepto.

"Because I can sense him," replied Kev-Mas, "And that means he can sense me. Which means that not even a cloak can -"

Just then, Kev-Mas heard the same voice that was guiding him on Dagobah reach out to him.

 _Your new path is one of humility. Let go of your pride and embrace humility and you shall become too small to be seen through the Force. But just remember, all your power comes from the Force. All you know comes from your experiences. The realization that you are only who you are because of the people and events you encounter and what you learn from them shall guide you. This is the Art of the Small - not just an ability that will benefit you in this situation and hide you from your enemies, but a way of life._

"A cloak can't what Commander?" Erty asked Kev-Mas.

"Nothing. Just continue our plan as normal," replied Kev-Mas dismissively, slipping into a meditative trance.

As the ship descended down onto Naboo, it seemed like Kev-Mas' meditation had worked. Though he could sense Caiphas, he was all but invisible to him.

The ship came upon a clearing in a forest a short distance away from the Emperor's Retreat, and made its landing approach, uncloaking as the engines shut down and the reactor went offline.

Moments later, Kev-Mas and his troops were crawling up the side of the hill that the retreat sat on, making sure to avoid detection as they did not yet know if the troops stationed there would be friendly, and seeing how Caiphas' fleet had a blockade of the planet it was not likely they would be. Regardless, Kev-Mas' cipher might still clear him for entry to the facilities.

"Activate your stealth generators," ordered Kev-Mas with a low whisper, "This will be a covert operation."

With his troops taking flank for cover fire if necessary, Kev-Mas snuck up to the front doors of the retreat, and slipped his code cylinder into the access slot. Much to his surprise, the light on the switch turned green and the doors began to open.

Motioning to his troops to follow him in, he quickly entered into the retreat.

Once inside, Kev-Mas noticed that there was blast marks on the walls and there were corpses scattered everywhere.

"He's here. I can feel his presence more clearly now," said Kev-Mas grimly.

"Alright men, you heard him," ordered Cav, "Blasters at the ready, and expect a fight very soon."

"One thing though," replied Kev-Mas, "If he's here, he might have already figured out a way to take control of the talisman. That being said, if that does happen and I begin to attack you… run."

"But what about you, sir?" asked Cav.

Kev-Mas handed Cav a datadisk, "On this datadisk is information on how to contact Luke Skywalker. He will be your best bet on salvaging that situation."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Skepto, "I mean… sometimes it's better to live to fight another day."

Kev-Mas lifted Skepto by the Force and lectured him angrily.

"You will only retreat on my terms, soldier. The terms I have just given you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-y...yes Commander," Skepto stammered, "Crys...tal."

Kev-Mas lowered Skepto back to the ground. "Good. We all take risks, especially in these new trying times."

"But today, we take the ultimate risk. Today, I am asking you to accompany me on what could very well be my last actions as your Commander," he continued, "As much as I would rather die than help bring forth the rise of another Emperor, our only chances of escaping such a fate lie in the throne room below us."

"We will follow your lead then, Commander," acknowledged Cav.

Kev-Mas and his men then advanced towards the lift leading toward the throne room, and as Kev-Mas went to put his code cylinder into the access slot to open the lift door he noticed that it had been tampered with and that the security measures were offline.

"That makes things easier," mused Dar, "That access slot is linked to all automated defenses and security measures for the facility. If it's offline, everything else is too."

"No," said Kev-Mas, "It makes things a whole lot harder. It means we're about to face our enemy."

"Weapons at the ready folks!" ordered Cav, "We're going in hot!"

Exiting the lift, Kev-Mas and his men were greeted with laughter.

"All too easy…" cackled Caiphas, "You fell right into my trap… Now, you will be MINE!"

Kev-Mas ignited his lightsaber in response, but then 2 Inquisitors came out of the shadows and engaged Kev-Mas, while 6 Shadow Stormtroopers came out of flanking positions firing on his troops.

Kev-Mas parried the first blow sent at him by an Inquisitor and force pushed him into a column, and then blasted the other one away with a torrent of electrical Force energy.

As he pushed his attack on the Inquisitor that had been sent into the column, he noticed Caiphas mumbling something in the Sith language.

" _Kriffing sithspit! He was trying to distract me while he's preparing to take control!"_

Not wasting any time, Kev-Mas lunged at Caiphas.

As Kev-Mas flew towards Caiphas, he shouted at him in Sithese, "DOMNAK TOTH'QA… OMNKALUM!"

The words struck out like venom, and as soon as they left his mouth, Kev-Mas fell to the ground. Blacking out completely. Upon seeing the sudden turn of events, his troopers gasped in shock. They were compelled to avenge him, but they had their orders. Their stealth field generators suddenly came to life, and the fled the scene.

"Pursuing them will not be necessary," ordered Caiphas with a chuckle, "We already have what we need… groveling at my feet like the slave he now is…"

Arriving at the _Wolvesbane_ , the troopers' morale was at an all time low. For all intents and purposes, the operation was a total loss.

"Some plan that was," panicked Skepto, "Now what do we do?!"

"Commander Colcha gave us orders to contact the Jedi known as Skywalker if anything were to happen to him," explained Cav, handing the datadisk to Dar, "So that's exactly what we're going to do."

Dar popped the disk into the slot in the sitrep table that they were gathered at.

"Patching you through now, Captain." informed Dar.

"Master Skywalker," said Cav as he began the message, "This is Captain Cav, formerly of the 375th Shadow Trooper Regiment. We were assigned to assist Kev-Mas Colcha, an acquaintance of yours, on an assignment important to the fate of the Galaxy as we know it when we encountered some problems and Commander Colcha unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. In the case of such a situation the Commander told us that you would be able to help us. You are our only hope."

* * *

 **Endor, Forest Moon  
Alliance Base**

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **1005 hours**

Luke was sitting at his desk in his quarters on the base when a fleet trooper came to his door and buzzed it.

"It's not sealed, come in." ****

"Commander Skywalker, you have a priority message from a Captain Cav," informed the trooper, "Seems like he's an ex-Stormtrooper."

"Patch it through," replied Luke, as he skimmed over text on a datapad.

 _Master Skywalker, This is Captain Cav, formerly of the 375th Shadow Trooper Regiment. We were assigned to assist Kev-Mas Colcha, an acquaintance of yours, on an assignment important to the fate of the Galaxy as we know it when we encountered some problems and Commander Colcha unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. In the case of such a situation the Commander told us that you would be able to help us. You are our only hope._

"Oh no…", Luke groaned, "This isn't good."

"Trooper," he continued, "tell General Calrissian I have some personal matters to attend to and have to leave the base. Tell him it's more Jedi business."

"Yes sir," said the trooper as he exited the room.

"Obi-Wan… Master Yoda… Father..." Luke said, looking up as he spoke, "I could really use your help right now… no… my friend could use your help..."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Never Look Back

 **Thyrsus**

 **Coliseum, Barracks  
4:12:11 (31 BBY)**

 **1202 hours**

A young Kev-Mas Colcha stood before an imposing looking figure wearing matte black armor. His skin was almost exactly the same hue as his armor, as was his hair, which was long and flowed down to his shoulders. There was several other individuals who, albeit not as intimidating as the man standing before them looked almost identical.

"You stand here today vying for a place in the ranks of the elite soldier known as the Thryrsus Sun Guard," began the armored figure, "I wish you all good luck, cause you're certainly going to need it."

The figure then pointed the blade of a pike out towards Kev-Mas, barely grazing his face as he barely dodged it in time.

"Especially you," he taunted with a snarl, to which Kev-Mas replied with a scowl.

"What about me, sir?" Kev-Mas replied coyly. He knew that he was poking fun of the fact that he was rather young at only 16 years of age as well as his parentage. While his mother was a Thyrsian like the rest of everyone present, his father was an Echani, the rival race of the Thyrsians. This deemed him a half blood, and as such he had to work a lot harder than the others in Thyrsian society to prove his worth.

"Don't play dumb with me kid. You're a half blood, and that means you're an inferior," the man replied, "It completely stumps me as to how you even managed to get this far, but here you are."

"Oh I assure you sir, after today you'll be doubting everything you ever thought you learned," replied Kev-Mas with an overwhelming sense of confidence in his voice.

"Enough!" the man replied, "Since you seem to feel the need to be cocky with me, I won't be giving you a blade today. You'll have to fight for it, and pull it from the cold dead hands of one of the other candidates. Though I seriously doubt you'll even get that far…"

 **Thyrsus**

 **Coliseum, Arena  
4:12:11 (31 BBY)**

 **1245 hours**

Kev-Mas and the other candidates awaited the release of the beasts, which would signal the start of their trial. It was incredibly tense and though Kev-Mas was not yet trained in the Force, he could still sense the anxiety in all of his competitors.

Just then, a loud voice yelled "RELEASE THE BEASTS!". At that same moment, cheers from the crowd above and roars from ferocious beasts lumbering their way into the arena could be heard, both out of a lust for blood.

Several massiffs and kath hounds came running out into the arena with the sound of a horn, and the crowd cheered as they scored their first kill, as a kath hound mauled and devoured one of the competitors. As this happened, Kev-Mas scanned the scene, searching for an opening in one of his competitors. He needed to steal a weapon if he was to survive any longer, especially with ferocious beasts running around who he stood no chance of defending himself against unarmed.

In a few short moments of looking, he found his opening - a competitor who appeared to be struggling to fight off a massiff. Kev-Mas then quickly snuck up behind him, flipped him onto the back of said massiff, impaling him on the creature's spikes and taking his vibro-ax in the process.

The massiff then roared as he noticed Kev-Mas in front of him, who then stabbed the pointy end of his vibro-ax in one of the creature's large beady eyes. As the hound like creature roared in pain, Kev-Mas then cleaved its head off, killing it instantly.

Shortly after, one of his competitors scored a kill against another, and another competitor managed to slay a kath hound but then get devoured by a massiff. While this went on, Kev-Mas managed to score a kill against a kath hound and another competitor.

After all this, only two competitors remained and they decided to team up against Kev-Mas. This was probably because they either saw him as a threat, out of hate for his half-blood status, or both.

However, as they approached him, a kath hound charged out of nowhere and devoured one of them. While the other one looked back out of shock, Kev-Mas capitalized on his error as he ran up and cleaved him in two.

"Never look back," Kev-Mas said to himself as he spotted the kath hound, which was the last beast remaining at the corner of his eye.

Readying his vibro-ax he charged the kath hound, which was currently too busy devouring the competitor in his mouth to notice Kev-Mas, who cleaved his head right off.

"Unbelievable!" yelled a loud voice as the crowd cheered from above, "The next Stellar Legionnaire of the Thyrsus Sun Guard will be the half blooded youngster!"

 **Thyrsus**

 **Coliseum, Barracks  
4:12:11 (31 BBY)**

 **1632 hours**

Kev-Mas sat resting from his trial in an empty barracks. Usually there would have been a bunch of Thyrsians in there along with him but well… he just killed them. The pleasure of having the entire barracks to himself aside from the officer in charge of overseeing the new recruits was a hidden prize that he won alongside coming out of the trials alive, as well as being the new Stellar Legionnaire.

"Hey you," said a voice coming from behind Kev-Mas, "half blood miracle kid!"

Kev-Mas turned around to face him. The man was wearing the black rounded helmet of a Thyrsus Sun Guard, complete with all the armor and trimmings. "Yes?"

"You seem to have attracted quite a lot of attention with your performance in that trial, so congratulations are in order," the Sun Guard replied, "Lord Sidious himself is requesting an audience with you and you are set to leave for his stronghold on Coruscant immediately."

"But I was scheduled to have my initiation ceremony tomorrow…" Kev-Mas whined.

"When the Dark Lord of the Sith wants to see you," the Sun Guard replied, "You had best not keep him waiting."

"Understood," Kev-Mas nodded, "I'll get my things ready then."

"Good," replied the Sun Guard, clanging the bottom end of his solar pike on the ground and turning on his heel, "I expect to see you at platform b at 1800 hours for your departure. Do NOT be late."

* * *

 **Coruscant**

 **Grand Republic Medical Facility, Hidden Sith Stronghold  
4:12:12 (31 BBY)**

 **1913 hours**

Kev-Mas stood before the Sidious with a defiant look on his face and the Dark Lord was none too happy about this development.

"You will BOW before your master."

"I am a Sun Guard of Thyrsus, not your personal plaything. And you are not my-"

"SILENCE!"

The Dark Lord yelled out at him as he lashed out at him with a stream of force energy from his fingertips.

Kev-Mas screamed in agony as the lightning forced him to kneel before him.

"Goooooood…. In time, you will be made to serve me with one hundred percent obedience. It shall become painful for you to even consider resisting me…"

The Dark Lord cackled as he tortured Kev-Mas a little more, and then stopped. Kev-Mas groaned and then passed out, losing consciousness from the pain.

Kev-Mas woke up moments later on an operating table, completely blind.

"What did you do to me…. Why can't I see?!"

The condescending voice of Sidious could be heard making a reply, "It appears that in your defiance and lack of vision… you lost another kind of vision. Such a pity, really. But how about I make you an offer that you cannot refuse?"

"You... you did this to me. You're a monster! I'll make you pay for what you did!"

"I really doubt you're in such a position to do that. After all, you can't even see me."

The dark lord continued, "But just be thankful that I didn't kill you while you were passed out, and that I'm making you an offer to give you your sight back."

"I suppose I have no other choice… what do you want?"

"I want… what I brought you here for in the first place. I want your total obedience and unwavering support. I want you to do everything I ask of you without questions. Do we have a deal?"

This seemed like a rather unfair deal, and Kev-Mas wasn't sure if it was such a good idea. However, he was in a rather desperate situation.

"Can you give me some time to think about it?"

"I'll give you two standard minutes. Starting now."

" _Damn… that's not much time to think about this…"_ , Kev-Mas thought to himself, " _Seems like he's trying to sucker me, but I can't go anywhere if I can't see and well… I can always betray him the first moment I get an opening. I think I'll do it."_

"Time's up..." Sidious replied.

"I'll do it," replied Kev-Mas reluctantly.

* * *

 **Coruscant**

 **Grand Republic Medical Facility  
4:12:24 (31 BBY)**

 **1421 hours**

 ****Kev-Mas lay on an operating table, overlooked by a Dark Lord who was eager to see the results of his machinations.

"Open your new eyes and gaze upon the face of your master."

As ordered, Kev-Mas opened his eyes and much to his surprise he could see again. However, he could only see in shades of red, which angered him tremendously. His eyes glowed as he scanned the room and then centered themselves upon the face of Sidious.

"You're not my master," replied Kev-Mas, spitting in Sidious' face.

"Such insolence!" replied Sidious, "But I'm afraid your days of rebellion are all but over."

"From what your people back home tell me, you have quite the criminal record back there," he continued, "It fills me with great pride knowing that I took a dangerous criminal off the streets and turned his life around for the better."

"I only did what I had to do to survive," replied Kev-Mas, "and that's exactly why I decided to go along with you… until now. You didn't give me my sight back… just some cheap knockoff."

"Oh, I'm afraid you don't really have much choice in the matter now," replied Sidious.

He then began to chant in sithese, much to the confusion of Kev-Mas.

Kev-Mas struggled in his restraints, yelling and screaming to try and get the dark lord's attention. Moments later, Sidious shouted at him.

"DOMNAK TOTH'QA… OMNKALUM!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Imperial Raiders  
 **Outer Rim Territories - Elrood Sector**

 **Metharian Nebula**

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **1638 hours**

Even with the fall of the Emperor and the turmoil of the Galaxy at large, things had been quiet in the Elrood sector. Known for it's mining planets, and really nothing else the sector wasn't of great strategic importance. Other sectors were more rich in minerals, others had better positioning to more populated areas of the galaxy, so for the various crews and members of Imperial Mining, Ltd, things were quiet.

In fact things had toned down so much that IML and their chief competitor, Radell Mining Corporation had all but started working together. Well, in so far as not threatening to shoot each other down, and not actively trying to sabotage the other was working together. Commander Zeema, the Imperial Sector Commander actually felt relaxed. Sure his title was one in name only, he only had 4 Arquitens cruisers to his command, but it was enough.

At least that is what the Commander thought as he sipped tea from his cup, overlooking the convoy he was escorting from the planet Berea to the processing outpost at the edge of the system. "Sir?" A young officer looked up from the comm station, getting the man's attention. "The processing station has sent us a communique, say that a ion discharge from the Metharian Nebula has caused a few system failures, like primary communications and remote docking control. They advise that we hold position once we are in range till they can get the systems back online."

Normally, an Imperial Commander might be angered at this, but not Zeema, he simply nodded, and motioned for the convoy to carry on. There was no rush, they were ahead of schedule as is and a small delay wouldn't really effect the grand scheme of things. Out the forward view screen as the ships began to disperse around the station. That was when it happened.

The blast came from above, it slammed into the Arquitens foremost ahead of the convoy. Zeema watched it's engines flare and die, as another blast struck the second, and third. The ships began to scatter, only to find themselves surrounded as an oversized squadron of TIE fighters decloaked. "What is the meaning of this?" Zeema demanded over an open channel.

"The meaning is simple." Replied a voice. The area in front of Zeema's cruiser shimmered, and a _Raider_ -class corvette phased into existence, the ship's primary turbolasers poised to blow Zeema's bridge tower away. "Your ships, and their cargo are now the sole property of Lord Victus and the Imperial Inquisition. You've been out of contact with the Empire, and as a result have been labeled traitors. I assume you know the punishment yes?"

Zeema cursed under his breath, it was true, they hadn't responded to Imperial hails. Because they hadn't been using the proper codes, and were relaying from all across the Galaxy. He could argue that he was still loyal, he was, but he knew how well that would go. "Yes..." He finally replied, "Death."

"Precisely, but, I would honestly hate to waste the resources required to kill you and sort through your men. So I will give you a lenient sentence." The bridge crew watched as the turbolaser locked into position and began to charge. "It is a 3 day trip back to Berea via escape pod. I would recommend your ships and their crew do as such. We'll keep an eye on sensors, if anyone stays behind, or any ships go into overload, we will kill you all. Victus out."

The _Wraith_ now floated deep inside the Nebula. What had yesterday, been two ships, the _Wraith_ , and the _Shadow of Veils_ had now grown to include four more cruisers, and over half a dozen ore laden Gozanti-class Imperial Freighters. All without firing a single shot or taking a single Imperial life. Indeed Victus had spent the entire time between leaving Utapau and now plotting this little raid, finding a remote convoy, in a remote system, that had been unresponsive to the Empire. It'd gone through swimmingly, and yet.

"Something seems wrong..." He spoke aloud, as he stood over the central holo-display that showed all the ships in the fleet organizing. Several troopers looked up, showing confusion with their helmets removed. "Not this," he added. "Something... far away." He was cut off from saying anything else by a alert beeping on the ship's communications panel.

"Sir, we've got an encrypted priority transmission. It's addressed to you."

"Bring it up."

The holo display swirled and shifted, revealing the standing form of Luke Skywalker, Imperial enemy number one. "Lord Victus, I am afraid I am sending this message with unpleasant news. Members of your associates group have contacted me, and informed me that he has been captured by this self styled emperor. If so, then he may be lost to us, and worse, all his knowledge may now be that of this Inquisitors."

Victus' hands gripped the railing of the console tightly. This, upstart would pay for harming his friend, and one of the last remaining vestiges of the Shadow Guard. "This may be a problem we cannot attack head on, but it is also one we should not attack separately, without convening. I am transmitting coordinates, that I know only you can decipher. Bring your forces there, and we will discuss how to move forward."

Victus stared at the hologram for a few moments, before shutting it off taking a step back and turning away from the crew. "Navigation... work on decoding those coordinates, then have the fleet set a course. We'll drop out out of system, get a scan going, and then determine if we can trust the Jedi... now go."

* * *

 **Thyrsus system  
** _ **Dominator**_

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **1702 hours**

Kev-Mas Colcha had been out cold for the past several hours, and while he remained under close watch by Caiphas' closest servants - who thanks to the talismans he had placed inside of them shared everything they saw with him via telepathic link, he had no doubt in his mind that there would be nothing to worry about. After all, he now had total control of Kev-Mas! Any erratic behavior would be completely impossible and if it happened he'd be able to bring him in line!

Or so he thought.

What Caiphas did not realize is that in order to control a Force user with a sith talisman, you needed to be able to feel their presence in the Force when conducting the ritual of control. Unfortunately for Caiphas, at that moment in time _nobody_ could detect Kev-Mas' presence in the Force, thanks to the force ability Kev-Mas had just learned and was employing to great effect. In fact, if Emperor Palpatine himself was conducting that very ritual instead of Caiphas, he too would have been met with the same failed results.

So when Kev-Mas awoke, it was as if he had simply blacked out.

" _That's strange,"_ thought Kev-Mas, " _I would've thought that I would have felt Caiphas' nauseating presence inside my mind… Wait a minute… I spoke against him and I didn't even feel as much as a shock…"_

"Greetings, Commander Colcha. It's good to see that you've finally awoken. Are you ready to resume your service to the Empire?"

" _I still have control of my own will then,"_ thought Kev-Mas, " _And they're completely oblivious… Let's seize the moment then, shall we?"_

"Yes. What is my first assignment?"

"You are to singlehandedly quell an uprising on the planet of Thyrsus, which we are currently orbiting," replied the mindslaved Inquisitor, "This is to be a covert insertion. You are to land, and then quietly assassinate the leadership of the rebellion."

Kev-Mas somehow knew that his history had put him up to this mission, and was some kind of test of loyalty. However, he did not bother comment on that, for any errant comments of that matter would risk blowing his cover - his cover for the fact that he wasn't currently unable to control his own mind.

"Understood. What will I be inserting myself with?"

"You will be flying in a special ship made for the talisman agents of Emperor Caiphas, the TIE Defender-S," replied the Inquisitor.

"Defender-S?"

"Yes, it is a modified TIE Defender equipped with a stygium cloaking device and other stealth countermeasures. Your squadron of shadow storm troopers will follow shortly after you in a specialized assault shuttle with similar stealth systems."

Kev-Mas grinned. Not only was he still free without the knowledge of Caiphas, but he would be eventually leaving his "service" with quite the going away present.

\- - -

 ****As Kev-Mas made his descent to the planet's surface, he mused about his course of action for the next few days. First things first he'd make it seem like he was still in compliance with Caiphas' orders but in reality, he'd earn the trust of his half kinsmen and get them to flee to the Rebellion, faking their deaths. Then, he'd maintain his cover for the next few days waiting for either Caiphas to notice that he can't detect Kev-Mas' presence in the Force like he can with his other subjects or for a Rebel Strike Force to come knocking. Either way, he'd be well prepared for whichever came first.

Stealth, subterfuge, espionage. It's just like the good old days… only this time he's working for himself.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Sunset

 **Thyrsus**

 **Outside Tvóssól City**

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **1913 hours**

Thyrsus was for all intents and purposes, Kev-Mas' homeworld. While he was born offworld on Mindor, a former resort planet that is now essentially inhospitable thanks to an accident with an experimental gravity weapon, he grew up on Thyrsus, having been abandoned there by his Thyrsian mother at a young age and left to fend for himself in the streets of Tvóssól City.

So when he exited the cockpit of his still cloaked TIE Defender outside Tvóssól City, he was greeted with a feeling of nostalgia looking on towards the skyline, which was scorched by the still setting red twin suns.

" _It's been nearly 35 years since I last set foot on this world_ ," mused Kev-Mas to himself, pulling the face concealing hood of his cloak over his head, " _It feels strange knowing that the last time I was here was just moments before I had my free will stripped away from me for nearly 40 years, and now that I'm here again, I'm fighting to keep that from happening again._ "

Kev-Mas' train of thought was then disturbed by the captain of the Shadow Stormtrooper squad greeting him, as his squad seemingly came out of nowhere as they exited the still cloaked assault shuttle.

"Commander Colcha, we have arrived. Shall we begin our mission?"

Kev-Mas turned to face the captain, his cybernetic red eyes piercing through the darkness of the cloak's hood towards him. If it hadn't been for the trooper's training, he might have been cowering in fear at such a sight right now.

"Yes. What does intelligence say about the whereabouts of these insurgents?"

"They are holed up in the slums of the city not too far from here," the captain replied, handing Kev-Mas a datapad, "We have included coordinates to an exact location on this datapad."

Kev-Mas scanned the datapad with his cybernetic eyes and downloaded the data to his hud.

"Thank you Captain," said Kev-Mas, handing the datapad back, "Let's get going now, shall we?"

Kev-Mas and the troopers took point behind the rear facing wall of the building the insurgents were said to be located in. Scanning for an opening and finding one, Kev-Mas advanced towards the door, motioning to his troops to follow.

Quickly, Kev-Mas reached out to the Force to force open the locked door. The locking mechanism clicked open, and they were in.

"Well," whispered Kev-Mas to the troops, "Looks like we're in."

"We are," the captain whispered in reply, "Now what?"

Kev-Mas then held his hands up in the air, and as he did the five shadow stormtroopers were raised up into the air struggling to breathe as he grasped their throats with the Force. A few short moments later their lifeless bodies fell to the floor as Kev-Mas released his grip.

"Now," replied Kev-Mas, "Your services are no longer required."

Now that he didn't have any dead weight to get in the way of his real plans, Kev-Mas then walked through to greet these rebels… Or kinsmen, as he would prefer to call them.

"Hey!" shouted a Thyrsian rebel as Kev-Mas entered the room, "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

These rebels were dressed in a ragtag mixture of armor and fatigues, all colored in different shades of black and gray.

Kev-Mas dropped his hood and revealed his face.

"Sum ég er sonatus ex tvóssól. Sum ég er Sól Vörgil," replied Kev-Mas in perfect Thyrsian, the phrase translating to "I am a son of the twinsuns. I am a Sun Guard".

An older looking rebel came up from the back of the room, and motioned to his fellow men to drop their weapons.

"It is you… the half-blood champion…"

"That is a name I haven't heard in a long long time," replied Kev-Mas, "Not since the last time I set foot on this world have I heard that name. How do you know of it?"

"I was just a young boy in the crowd that fateful day when you earned your place in the Sun Guard," recollected the rebel, "The fact that you were so young like me, and overcame unthinkable odds to claim victory filled me with hope. It was inspiring. Even to this day, that performance fills me with hope, and is something I use to keep pushing onwards for the freedom of all Thyrsian people."

"I'm glad to hear that," replied Kev-Mas, "But I come with dire news for you."

"Oh? What might that be."

"Your lives are in danger. The Empire has been alerted to your activities and has sent an assassin to eliminate you."

"How do you know of this?"

"I know… because I am… or I was supposed to be that assassin."

The rebels grabbed their weapons again and held them at the ready, training them on Kev-Mas.

"What changed? Can we trust you?"

"Nothing changed. The Empire was fooled into believing that they had my loyalty. They relied on a device to force me into submission that has failed. I cannot turn a blind eye towards the suffering of my kinsmen. Instead, I will be assisting you with faking your deaths and escaping the planet to safety."

The rebels pulled their weapons back again, but still held them close.

"How exactly do you plan to do this?"

"There was a squad of Shadow Stormtroopers who accompanied me on this mission. I have since removed them from service, and their bodies currently lie inside the entrance to this building. You are to swap their armor with your own, place their bodies inside this room, set fire to this building and use their assault shuttle to escape the planet. You do not have to worry about detection, for this shuttle is equipped with a cloaking device."

Kev-Mas pulled out a datadisk and handed it to the Rebel standing in front of him.

"On this datadisk is information regarding how to contact an associate of mine. His name is Luke Skywalker. You might have heard of him, for he has quite the reputation ahead of him. He might be able to help you with your cause and provide a safe place for you to hide out."

"Sounds like you thought this through quite well," said the Rebel, taking the datadisk, "How can we be sure that this isn't a trap though?"

"If I were misleading you, would I have killed off an entire squad of Stormtroopers and have information on how to contact the elusive Luke Skywalker?"

"No. You have a point. And our trust."

"Good. Let's set this plan into motion then, shall we?"

Kev-Mas and the Thyrsian rebels, adorned in shadow stormtrooper armor made their way outside the city, briefly looking back at the billowing smoke from the blaze they set off as they went.

Arriving at the site where the cloaked vessels were located, Kev-Mas pressed a button to open the loading ramp to the assault shuttle which revealed the interior of a transport vessel out of mid-air, much to the surprise of the Thyrsians.

"Here's your ride off of this rock. Do me a favor though, once you get a hold of Luke."

"What would that be?"

"Tell him that Kev-Mas Colcha sent you, and that his will is his own but he needs his help."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Turning the Tables

 _ **Millenium Falcon**_ **  
Hyperspace**

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **2102 hours**

Luke sat in the rear seat inside the cockpit of a beaten Corellian freighter. In front of him sat a scruffy looking smuggler and a wookiee.

"I swear kid, this Jedi stuff seems to be nothing but trouble," remarked the smuggler, "Risking our hides for an Emperor's Hand? What's next, joining the Empire?"

"RAAAAWRRAAAGGHHH!" exclaimed the Wookiee.

"Relax Chewie," reassured the smuggler, "I was being sarcastic. Nobody's joining the Empire and you certainly aren't getting sent back to work the spice mines of Kessel."

"He's a _former_ Emperor's Hand, Han," corrected Luke, "The Emperor's dead, remember? Besides, something seems different about this guy. He doesn't strike me with the same repulsiveness that I've gotten from other Darksiders. He said he was forced into the whole Emperor's goon thing and well… something tells me he's telling the truth."

"Is that what the Force tells you?" jeered Han.

"Yes," replied Luke plainly, rolling his eyes.

Just then klaxons aboard the cockpit of the aging Corellian vessel blared indicating that they had reached their destination.

"Well, looks like we're here," informed Han, as the ship slowly lurched backwards reverting to realspace, soon followed after by an Alliance Fleet, "Middle Rim. Echani Space. Just outside the Ly'chee system."

"Hrroooollll ruh ruuff", said Chewbacca, indicating that the ship was being hailed by General Calrissian from the Mon Cal Cruiser _No Traps Here_ , which was serving as the fleet flagship.

"Alright, patch it through Chewie."

"Han, we're getting a message here that's addressed to Luke. Seems like your friend's reputation precedes himself, and he's getting fan mail! They said something about his Colcha friend though so it might be important."

"Hrooo huh huhrrrwwhiillwhoo", laughed Chewbacca.

"Laugh it up, fuzzball…" said Luke in response to the Wookiee, "Patch it through, this could very well be important."

What immediately followed after was the transmission in question, the holo image shifting to display the image of a group of Thyrsian rebels clad in black stormtrooper armor, with an older one standing in front talking.

"Luke Skywalker, we are a group of freedom fighters from the planet of Thyrsus. We were nearly eliminated by an Imperial Assassin, until we found out that the Assassin was friendlier to us than he was to the Empire and that he had played them a fool. He helped us fake our deaths and instructed us to take the armor of the stormtroopers he had… dealt with before hand and use their ship to escape off world. He had also instructed us to contact you for asylum and to relay you a message, that Kev-Mas Colcha sent us, and that his will is his own but he needs your help."

Luke grinned at this revelation. All that worrying over the talisman in his head and then somehow it doesn't seem to work and Kev-Mas managed to turn a good situation into something that they could turn into a victory.

"I can't believe it," he remarked, "but I think we now have a significant tactical advantage."

"You think?", replied Han, then reciting the last line of the _Combat Litany_ from the _Smuggler's Creed_ , "If no one knows you're there, you win."

Luke smirked and then prepared his reply message, "Brave free peoples of Thyrsus, you have no idea how welcome this news is to my ears. I am transmitting coordinates to my location. I would like to meet with you before we go meet with my friend. I am sure that you have critical information that would be most essential to the success of this mission."

The _Wraith_ was the first ship to exit hyperspace, a generally bad omen for Alliance forces, save the ship had its weapons powered down and was broadcasting an all-clear signal. Several more ships followed, A _Gozanti_ cruiser, mixed in amongst numerous imperial Freighters that were born of the same keel design, and a half dozen _Arquitens_ -class light cruisers. The ships came to rest roughly a hundred kilometers from the Alliance fleet, in a defensive formation, but not a standoffish one.

" _Alliance fleet."_ The signal was broadcast to both the flagship, and the infamous freighter. " _This is the Vanguard vessel_ Wraith _and the forces of Lord Victus. Our commander requests permission to come alongside and dock in order to facilitate a face to face meeting. Whatever stipulations you deem necessary are requested."_

The message was directed towards both ships but Luke was the first to reply, using the Force to trigger the button to send a reply transmission and broadcast the conversation to the _No Traps Here_.

"Lord Victus, this is Skywalker. You could not have arrived at a better time because I have some welcomed good news to discuss with you. The _Falcon_ will escort you to the docking bay of the flagship, of which I do not believe should be a problem. Right Lando?"

"I don't see why not, Luke," confirmed Lando.

"Well then I guess now I know where the princess _really_ gets her bossiness from," remarked Han, "It seems like it runs in the family."

The response was acknowledged, and a few moments later a _Theta_ -class shuttle lowered down from the _Wraith_ 's main hold, its primary wings folding outward as it made a slow approach towards the _No Traps Here_ allowing the _Falcon_ to come alongside and fulfil its duties.

Inside Victus stood in the cockpit, hands clasped behind his back as he watched out the viewport at the Alliance fleet. "A year ago this would have been unthinkable," he mused aloud to himself. Slowly the Mon Calamari cruiser filled the viewport, the ubiquitous bulbous design, no two ships exactly identical, at least to him. "Be sure to not do any sudden maneuvers," the Inquisitor added, "I imagine a lot of the Alliance's gunners are still a tad weary of us, and might be trigger happy."

The _Millenium Falcon_ then made the approach towards the main hangar bay of the _No Traps Here_ , keeping a short distance ahead of Victus' _Theta_ -class Shuttle and guiding him in the right direction. Moments later the two ships were landing inside the hangar bay of the MC-80 Cruiser.

"Chewie, keep an eye on the ship, will ya?" requested Han, as he and Luke made their way towards the boarding ramp of the _Falcon_.

"Hruuuffff!" Chewbacca replied in acknowledgement.

Victus stepped off the ramp of his shuttle, shoulder cap tucked around his arm, to reduce the chances of someone suspecting he had a weapon, well beyond the cylinder clipped to his belt. He could feel the unease. He had represented something that all these people have vehemently opposed not more than a few months ago, he didn't disagree with their right to mistrust him.

Taking in a breath he started towards the _Falcon_ he was un-escorted, as a show of good faith, and very interested in hearing what it was that Skywalker had to tell him. Considering his anger and fury at the last news, some bit of good would be a welcome reprieve.

* * *

Five Thyrsians adorned in black stormtrooper armor sat aboard the cockpit of an Imperial Assault Shuttle, which lay in waiting, cloaked on the edge of the Thyrsus System. A hushed bleeping was heard from the communications console and the Thyrsian working the console investigated it.

"Sir, we're getting a transmission," he informed, "It's from Luke Skywalker!"

"Alright, let's see what he has to say," replied the eldest Thyrsian of the bunch who sat at the captain's chair.

Moments later, the holographic image of Luke Skywalker popped up.

"Brave free peoples of Thyrsus, you have no idea how welcome this news is to my ears. I am transmitting coordinates to my location. I would like to meet with you before we go meet with my friend. I am sure that you have critical information that would be most essential to the success of this mission."

"Sir, these coordinates he's transmitting are very close to our current location," stated another Thyrsian, who was operating the navicomputer, "He appears to be located outside of the Ly'chee system. It won't take long to get there at all."

Their commandeered Assault Shuttle was running on low power and cloaked as to avoid detection from any subspace scans anyone might have been coordinating in the area and as far as they knew, the only people that knew they were alive was Kev-Mas, Luke and the Alliance. Keeping a low profile was key to their survival, so when they had found out that Luke wasn't too far from their current location they all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Well then, I think it's time we paid them a visit, don't you?"

"Aye sir, coordinates locked in and ready."

"Punch it."

* * *

Luke could feel the tension from his friends all around him. He knew he was doing the right thing, but for the first time he felt as if his friends weren't with him all the way on it. He couldn't blame them though. After all, these new people he was bringing onboard would have wanted them dead just a year ago. However, Obi-Wan and Yoda taught him to trust in the Force and that's exactly what he was doing here. Despite his judgments formed based on his past experiences telling him never to trust an Imperial and never to trust a Sith, no less… the Force told him otherwise. Luke could feel the Darkness inside of Victus but yet he could feel no malice directed towards him and as far as he was concerned that was good enough reason to trust him.

"It is good to see you again, Lord Victus," said Luke as he approached Victus, extending a hand as not only a gesture of goodwill towards the Echani, but as a gesture towards his friends - including Han who stood beside him, that he could be trusted.

"As unusual as it feels to say, the feeling is mutual." He took the young Jedi's hand, and gave it a firm shake, before directing his attention to the man beside him. "Han Solo I presume?" He tilted his head to the side, "We had a psychographic analysis on you. It kept changing ever few months because nobody could pin you down… I thought maybe you might like to know that."

"Yup, that's the name," replied Han, "I guess I'll take that as a compliment, though I must say I'm a bit weirded out by the whole idea of being analyzed like that."

"Yes well you were Public Enemy number 3." The Inquisitor gave a shrugged, "But, that is the past, and this is a new dawn, and indeed a New Republic if the holonet reports are to be believed. Let's just hope we're able to overcome this situation and let that New Republic flourish. Now what information was it that you had for me?"

"Kev-Mas seems to have pulled a fast one on this Caiphas fellow," began Luke, "It seems like his attempt to control his mind with the talisman inside his head has failed without his knowledge. I don't know how but I have a feeling that it may be some sort of talent that Colcha has been keeping quiet about."

Luke grinned and continued.

"Either way, we came into knowledge of this information from Thyrsian freedom fighters that Kev-Mas was ordered to terminate by Caiphas. Instead, he assisted them with faking their deaths and escaping offworld to deliver me word that he is in control of his will but needs our assistance with an extraction and they are en-route to our location from the nearby Ly'chee system. Kev-Mas is now probably working diligently to sabotage Caiphas' operations so there isn't likely much time before he is discovered. As such, time is precious."

"Indeed." Victus said with a nod, "When I received your message, I did some digging; I have many access codes from several intelligence personnel. I was able to find out a few things. One, an _Executor_ -class Star Dreadnought was stolen from Kuat within the past few days, the Forces who took it were labeled as an Imperial Splinter Group by Imperial Intelligence. I can imagine that this was our dear friend Caiphas. So that gives us an advantage, I was part of the special Inquisitorius Council that helped oversee the Executor project under Vader, I know every single weakness in that design. And I also know, Caiphas doesn't have the men necessary to fully crew it."

"Assuming that Kev-Mas doesn't manage to disable the ship by the time we get there or that my presumption of his current actions is incorrect we'll need to formulate a strategy," began Luke, "Follow me to the bridge. This is a discussion that General Calrissian and all members of this operation will be needing to participate in."

"Hold one moment first though," said Luke, noticing that his commlink was buzzing, "Lando is contacting me now."

"Luke, the refugees from Thyrsus have arrived. I cleared them to dock aboard the _No Traps Here_ but I want to speak with them personally. See to it that they make their way to the bridge."

"Not a problem General," replied Luke, observing the assault shuttle make it's landing approach, "We were just about to head up there with Lord Victus. We'll have them join us as well and then we can discuss strategy."

"Glad to hear it. Calrissian out."

As the conversation ended, the assault shuttle had landed and the loading ramp extended from the rear of the vessel, soon followed after by five Thyrsians in black armor. Luke signaled them to come his way and when they did, he brought them up to speed of what was going on.

"General Calrissian wishes to speak with you, and I am to be your guide to the bridge where you will do so," said Luke, "Now, I don't believe I got your names."

"The name's Stirge," replied the eldest Thyrsian in the front, "Stirge Morten."  
He continued, pointing out the others as he went, "Aesen Temeritus. Braxen Carbod. Siltan Carivdus. Flo-Dul Juranen."

"Good to meet you all, and welcome to the Alliance," nodded Luke as he directed everyone present towards the nearest turbolift.

Beyond Kev-Mas, Victus had never seen Thyrsians before, at least not ones who knew they were. The Sun Guard had been the predecessors of the Shadow Guard, so there was a small bit of reverence in the idea. This translated into Victus giving the men a long look and a nod before joining Luke on the turbolift. "Tell me Skywalker," He said breaking the silence, "What do you know of the legend of the Son of Suns?"

"I don't believe I've heard of it," replied Luke, as he activated the turbolift to send them on their way to the bridge. Luke had indeed never heard of this prophecy, as it was a bit of knowledge that he had not been exposed to considering his relatively sheltered childhood and life on the run from the Empire after that, in which he did not have time to learn about much of anything short of what was needed for his survival, "What is it about?"

"A prophecy, 'And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as: The Son of Suns.' So it is read in the Journal of the Whills." He watched the Thyrsians as they reacted to his reciting of it, "It's a key aspect of Thyrsian culture. Many believed it to be synonymous with the Chosen One. Your father." He lifted an eyebrow however and gazed at Luke, "However, in what the galaxy has called the Dark Times, threatened with weapons able to destroy a planet, there rose up a singular Jedi, bound by fate, who saved us all from a tyrant. You should perhaps after this, ponder who you are in the greater scheme of things."

"The chosen one was still my father in the end in that case," corrected Luke humbly, "He redeemed himself when he killed the Emperor, because he did it with total neglect for his own well being, and instead out of the care for another being… me. If this prophecy is indeed true, it is my father that was the Chosen One all along, not me. So yes, perhaps I should ponder who I am in the greater scheme of things."

"Yes, like I suppose your Father blew up the first Death Star. Mastered lightsaber combat and the Force in a mere four years, compared to some of us who took decades. Indeed." The lift came to a halt and the door opened to the bridge. "Maybe you're the Chosen one, maybe you're not. Maybe you're the Son of Suns, or the Son of the Son of Suns, maybe you're not. But you, Luke Skywalker, are something of a conundrum, humble is always a good trait, or so the stories go, but do not deny what you are, for the sake of your father's legacy."

"I suppose it's something I'll have to meditate on," replied Luke entering into the bridge, "It's just so hard for me to grasp, especially considering I'm not the only offspring of Anakin Skywalker."

"Oh don't remind me," said Han rolling his eyes, "Still kinda hard for me to believe it's true."

"True." The Echani conceded, "A discussion for another time perhaps. For now, let us discuss what we know, and what we're going to do. If our enemy does indeed have a Dreadnought, even an understaffed one, we will need to plan this accordingly."

Luke nodded and the group then made it's way to the center of the room.

"I'm glad you all could make it onboard," greeted Lando, his long ornate cape billowing behind him as he walked towards the procession that came from the turbolift.

"I would like to thank you for the good news about our new friend Colcha," continued Lando, extending a hand towards Stirge and the Thyrsians, "I'm General Lando Calrissian, and I'll be making sure that your people are accommodated for very well. In exchange for the assistance you have gave us we will be liberating your homeworld from the free of Imperial tyranny and creating quite the magnificent display for you to return home to. How does that sound?"

Stirge grinned, shaking Lando's hand, "Sounds good to me, as well as my compatriots."

"Good," replied Lando, turning his attention to Victus, "Now what do we have here… an Echani! I assume that you're a friend of Colcha's from his days in the Empire that continues to help him to this day even after his ties to the Empire have been severed?"

"Yes. We were both high ranking servants of the Empire, but not by our own will. Turns out when you build a powerbase of people you've subjugated or coerced into working under you, and you lose grip on that reign, they bite the hand that feeds." Victus put his hands behind his back, "Now I understand that we have some intelligence about the forces that our target has managed to gather?"

"You might find it helpful that we took some liberty of doing some recon while we were in the system in the cloaked shuttle we came here in, as well as an observation of what we saw when we were still on the planet," chimed in Stirge, "They do indeed have a dreadnought, as well as two _Imperial_ -class Star Destroyers, an Immobilizer-418, two _Victory-_ class Star Destroyers and four _Strike_ -class medium cruisers. It's a massive fleet, so I hope you're prepared for a battle."

"I do believe we can handle those numbers," replied Lando, "Our current fighting force consists of four MC80 Star Cruisers, six escort carriers, four Nebulon-Bs, five Corellian Corvettes and five Corellian Gunships. Not to mention the fact that we're accompanied by Rogue Squadron and the famed _Millennium Falcon_."

"The Dreadnought and the Immobilizer are our only major concerns." Victus put forth, before relaxing his arms, and producing a datachip. "I have here, all the major, and minor flaws in the defense net and structural capabilities of the _Executor_ -class that I know of." He held it out towards Lando, "Our biggest advantage is that with a fleet that size, there is no way that our enemy has the forces to fully crew the Dreadnought, and his other ships. It's weapons systems will not be fully operational. Flying one of them, while tricky, only requires a small number of people, two can do it actually. But to actually operate it requires _thousands_ and he does not have that many loyal forces."

"Well I'll be…" mused Lando, "Seems like any time we go up against the Empire they've got some sort of big weapon that we have intelligence on how to destroy."

"Anyways," he continued, "I believe that the best course of action would be to press the advantage we have with our numbers. First we can focus bombing runs with our Y-Wing and B-Wing squadrons on the Interdictor and Dreadnought with the Corellian Gunships providing support and hold back everything else for defense in anticipation of the opponent's next move."

Lando then grinned, "A gambler never reveals all his cards at once, after all."

"My forces will be at your disposal as well, as limited as they are. My freighter can remain here, but my corvettes can support you, and my personal cruiser is able to provide long range fire support." He looked at the now displayed hologram of the Dreadnought, "I however, will be taking my personal fighter, under cloak, and infiltrating the dreadnought. Caiphas was simply an Inquisitor, not a High or Grand Inquisitor. His only real strength lies in his ability to understand tombs, and Sith magic. But that was not enough in the Inquisition to push him forward, you needed brains, and brawns."

Victus held out a hand, and fore a brief moment electricity arced between his gloved fingers as he clinched it into a fist. "Our advantage also lies in his not knowing that I am still alive. Kev-Mas would not have let that information sip, and he has not seen me in person. While you keep the enemy distracted, I will press the attack on a personal front, he cannot corrupt what has accepted its own corruption. So I will face him."

"Well then, it seems like it's gonna be all too easy," replied Lando, "That's… not something I'm used to hearing."

"Not something any of us is used to hearing," interjected Han, "Which is why I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Oh relax my old friend!" replied Lando, "I'm sure that everything will work out just fine. The odds are in our favor!"

"Remember," reminded Han, "Never tell me the odds."

The gambler chuckled and directed his attention to Victus, "Now, shall we get underway?"

"Yes, lets."

"Alright then," replied Lando, turning to the navigation officer, "Set course for the Thyrsus system and prepare the fleet for the jump to hyperspace!"

The officer nodded, and moments later the _No Traps Here_ along with the rest of the Alliance fleet lurched forth into the blue sea of hyperspace.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Strike from Within

 **Thyrsus System**

 _ **Dominator**_

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **2115 hours**

Kev-Mas had arrived onboard the _Dominator_ after his mission and was greeted with comm chirps as he did. Activating his comm, a holographic image of Caiphas Coldrinn projected into the peripheral vision of his cybernetic eyes.

"I'm receiving reports that the Thyrsian Rebel's pathetic little compound was burned to the ground and I can only conclude that it was you. Based on information that we've gathered about your tactical methods, use of such destructive methods such as this is definitely your style. And, if I may add… quite effective. Where are your troops though?"

"They served their purpose, but their lives have been terminated in order to maintain utter secrecy and gain a tactical upper hand," Kev-Mas bluffed in reply, "I ordered them to enter the compound and engage the enemy without me while I rigged the exterior of the building with explosives and walked away as I pressed the detonator. You see, if other Rebels saw that we needed a Dark Jedi such as myself to eliminate them, it might convince them that they have a fighting chance against us. However, if all they saw was a small squad of Imperial Stormtroopers their morale would be crushed and be less likely to act out against us."

"A cunning plan, but maybe too thorough," replied Caiphas, "There was no survivors though, how would word get out over how they were killed?"

"Have you been checking the Holonet in the past couple of hours?" replied Kev-Mas, "Apparently a second band of rebels had received a surveillance video feed of the attack before the building was destroyed and forwarded it to a hijacked holonet substation. This was a trap. They knew we were coming for them and were willing to give up their lives in order to send their message. I was right to do what I did. It would have been much worse if I had directly intervened."

"I will admit that I do not check the Holonet as much as I should," replied Caiphas, "I shall verify to see if what you are saying is true, but if it is then we might be able to trace the message and figure out where it came from to find these additional rebels. Good work. We most definitely will call on you again if we find out where these rebels are located, but for now you have earned some leave."

What Kev-Mas said was only partially true. There indeed was a "feed" on the holonet of what looked like a squad of Stormtroopers engaging Thyrsian rebels, but it was doctored by him as a cover story, and it wasn't forwarded to a hijacked holonet substation, but rather by his own personal holonet transceiver and the "coordinates" the feed came from were spoofed and led to his childhood home. Well, if you want to call an abandoned shack he was squatting in a "home" anyways.

However, Kev-Mas now had some free time and it was very likely that his friends would be on the way soon. He had decided to use his personal leave time to make their job a little easier.

Kev-Mas left for his quarters to begin work on rewriting a rather insidious piece of code he had written before. This piece of code was a virus capable of disabling all systems onboard a Starship. The only problem is that you had to have the appropriate security clearance to access the main computer databank onboard the ship.

This was not a problem for Kev-Mas.

"Ahhh… got it," said Kev-Mas to himself as he ejected the datadisk from his workstation and logged out.

"Now I just need to find the databank," he continued as he pocketed the datadisk.

Kev-Mas arrived at the databank and was greeted by a small man of slender build, wearing a standard Imperial Officer uniform.

"Commander Colcha, what can we do for you?"

"Install the software on this datadisk," Kev-Mas replied, handing him the datadisk,

"Sir, what is it?"

"It is system updates for the _Dominator_. They will increase efficiency of all systems significantly."

"I don't recall hearing any—"

"And I don't recall hearing about a mere underling's ability to question my orders. Do it now."

"Yes sir."

"Good, now I have other matters to attend to. Get to work."

Kev-Mas then left the room and immediately headed for the hangar bay. While the virus was on a timed delay, he could not risk being onboard when it happened because he would immediately become suspect as the cause of it. Also, the code would cause all docked ships to self-destruct and he really wanted that TIE…

Arriving in the hangar bay, Kev-Mas spotted the TIE Defender he had used in his previous mission and boarded it immediately. Putting on his flight helmet, he thumbed the ignition on the fighter and the ship screamed to life.

"Flight control," this is Colcha, "I'm going down to the surface to do some sightseeing. This place is like home to me, and I intend to spend my leave getting to know it again."

"Acknowledged, Commander. Have a good time."

With that, the docking clamps were released from the TIE and it sped out of the Hangar. All things considered, Kev-Mas was free. Very soon the _Dominator_ would be a mere derelict vessel. It would take the ship's technicians days to reverse the virus, giving Kev-Mas' friends plenty of time to arrive, eliminate the other ships in the fleet and board the _Dominator_ while it was still disabled.

Kev-Mas flew out to an ideal location, deactivated his comm, cloaked and watched as the lights went out onboard the _Executor_ -class Star Dreadnought before him.

Then things got even worse for Caiphas' fleet.

Several ships came into view as they entered the system. An Alliance Fleet, accompanied by several Imperial vessels. This could only mean one thing. Both Vincent and Luke were there, and they had brought friends.

Kev-Mas grinned at this revelation as he decloaked, turned on his comm and sent a transmission to the fleet that had just arrived.

"Alliance fleet. Colcha here," he began, "It's so good to see you. I took the liberty of disabling the flagship, but there's still other ships that you need to take care of. Wipe them out. All of them."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – Lights Out

 **Thyrsus System**

 **39:3:13 (4 ABY)**

 **2228 hours**

Victus was unsurprisingly shocked when he suddenly found himself staring at the ceiling of a corridor, stars flickering about his vision. He'd boarded the Dominator no more than a quarter hour before and was now making his way quietly through unfinished portions of the ship, or was. For the moment, the entire ship felt like it was coming apart around him. He could feel the explosions through the hull but the low pressure in these areas didn't carry the sound well and forced him to use a light EVA kit. To make matters worse, his ship, that had been feeding him real time data from it's cloaked position in the hangar was no longer broadcasting.

His head spun as he pulled himself up, grabbing hold of a construction pylon as the ships dampeners seemed to finally catch up with itself. Static filled his head as his comm system picked up frequencies through the distorted mess. "Colcha…" That was Kev-Mas he recognized the voice. "Disabled…flagship…wipe…out…" Then the signal was lost, jammers probably from the Pseudo Imperial forces.

 _Damn_ , the Inquisitor thought. He could reach out to Colcha but that would require removing the Taozin amulet and revealing himself. He couldn't do that. No he needed to trust Skywalker to do the right thing here. For now, Victus was on his own, and he still had an Emperor to assassinate, even if it wasn't the one he desired.

* * *

Before the Alliance Fleet could respond to Kev-Mas' comm, he had re-cloaked and began to fly back towards the _Dominator_. Landing quietly inside the hangar bay aboard the Star Dreadnought, Kev-Mas grinned at the destruction around him. The hangar bay was completely absent of any sign of onboard craft aside from the mangled wreckage left when the virus Kev-Mas had created triggered the self destruct mechanism onboard every ship connected to the docking clamps. Additionally, Kev-Mas' virus had disabled all onboard systems besides life support, turbolifts and the hangar doors. The ship was completely dark - just like Kev-Mas liked it, and the hangar bay Kev-Mas stood in was only illuminated slightly by the fires burning from the wrecked TIE Fighters and shuttles that would have been rushing into battle right now if not for their current predicament.

"Halt! Who goes there!" was the sound that broke the eerie silence that greeted Kev-Mas as he made his way into the corridors of the Star Dreadnought, accompanied by several strobe lamps equipped to the rifles of a security squad of Shadow Stormtroopers.

Kev-Mas focused his gaze upon them, his piercing red eyes shooting daggers through the darkness.

"Some might call me the Crimson Dagger," he replied, lifting a hand in the air as he reached out with the Force.

Moments later, the thermal detonator on one of the troopers' utility belt exploded, catching the rest in the blast before they even noticed something was going wrong.

* * *

A utility hatch opened and Victus dropped down into a pressurized corridor. His presence in the force was diminished but not gone, and he could feel the lifeforce of someone nearby. Pulling his lightsaber from his belt he made his way slowly forward.

The dominator did not venture far from the Executor family tree, if he recalled correctly he was in the secondary access corridor just below the main thoroughfare that ran the length of the ship, about half a klick fore of the bridge access turbolift. It put him in the prime position to go anywhere on the ship, he just need to know where to go. And for that, well…

He stepped around a corner, and came to face a Stormtrooper who looked to have been assigned sanitation duty before the chit hit the ventilator. The trooper raised his rifle, but then quickly dropped it as his hands flew up to his throat. His feet left the ground as he drifted slowly towards the Inquisitors actual physical grip.

With the man firmly secure in his clutches Victus slowly removed the man's helmet, and found himself staring into the frightened green eyes of a young, likely freshly promoted from cadet trooper. "Tell me, where is your emperor hiding?" The eyes of his victim suddenly steeled with some fanatical resolve and he spat at the Echani's face.

"Very well…" Victus scoffed, wiping the spittle away with a sleeve. "We'll do this the enjoyable way." The corridor then filled with flashes of blue and agonizing screams. Victus would get his answers, even if it killed the messenger.

* * *

Kev-Mas heard the screams nearby as he made his way down the corridors. The ship may be currently under attack, but Kev-Mas knew that screams of that nature weren't exactly the kind of screams that were typically heard under normal combat situations. Either the crew was being interrogated about Kev-Mas' little spat of sabotage, or Victus was onboard. Curiously though, when Kev-Mas reached out in the Force he could not sense his presence. Even more curiously, he could feel the presence of Caiphas… but they were scattered all over the ship, likely as a result from the mind control talismans placed in the various inquisitors onboard.

 _Stang_ , he thought as he continued down the corridors, making his way towards the screams to investigate, _so much for finding him without any trouble._

Meanwhile, the newly christened New Republic was busy with the space battle outside. The _Millenium Falcon_ was flying alongside Luke and Rogue Squadron, which was composed of several seasoned veterans such as Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian and Tycho Celchu.

Warning klaxons blared in the cockpit aboard the _Falcon_ as several new contacts jumped in and Han Solo flipped a switch to "Luke, we've got company! Looks like more Imperials!"

"What do you mean more Imperials! I thought they were low on numb-", began Luke before he was interrupted by a glancing blow laser cannon blast.

"SQUEAAAAAAAAAA!" was the interjection from his astromech droid as the blast went by.

"Nevermind!" he continued, "Alright Rogues, form up on me and the Falcon. We're going to engage these new targets."

Rather quickly, the group of ships re-oriented in the direction of the new contacts and made chase.

"Whoa, are those TIE Defenders?", inquired Wes Janson, "I thought this fleet was low on resources?"

"Apparently not, Rogue Five," replied Wedge Antilles, "But I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Speak for yourself Rogue Two!" replied Wes, "Finally we get a real challenge!"

"Rogue Five, Rogue Two, cut the chatter," interrupted Luke, "Rogues, pair up and fan out in a loose formation. I want to minimize casualties and maximize our coverage area."

* * *

Victus let go of the troopers charred form and let it slump to the ground, smoke rising up out from the openings in the shell of armor he wore. "CIC…" Those had been all that the trooper had managed between the screams of agony. It made sense, the Executor had a flaw, that was only caught after it was mostly complete, and that was that for a large ship it had only one command center, further Executor's had several decentralized CIC centers, with a primary one at the base of the tower in a large armored section.

Placing a foot down on the troopers neck he gave his heel a quick twist, and a snap ended any more pain the young man might have been feeling, that was his reward. Brushing the ash off his hands the Echani stepped over the corpse and started towards the aft of the ship. He had three decks and five hundred meters to cover and that was going to take time when the ship itself was all but dead in the water, but it didn't matter if there was an army of Rancor's between here and there. Caiphas was going to die today.

Kev-Mas had just arrived within view when Victus was finishing up with his interrogation. _So it is him_ he thought. Victus then made his way down the hallway in Kev-Mas' direction, and as he came closer Kev-Mas walked out in front of him.

"It's good to see that you got my message too," he greeted in a hushed voice.

Victus paused, he couldn't sense Kev-Mas in the Force, even at this range, it sent the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up and his hand to tense around his lightsaber. "I got Skywalker's message." He stepped around the man and continued on his way. "And you destroyed my fighter, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take out my anger with a good old fashioned performance of regicide."

"That's what I meant," replied Kev-Mas, "I only sent one message. Skywalker's message was intended to reach your ears as well. As I had foreseen."

"However," Kev-Mas continued, "I believe that I have as much right to this kill as you do."

As the battle raged outside, Rogue Squadron and the _Millenium Falcon_ were picking off targets one by one.

"Rogue Seven watch your six!" was the warning from Tycho Celchu blaring from the rookie pilot's headset as a TIE Defender snuck up behind him and opened fire.

"AAAARGH!" was the screams that came through as the ion cannon blast disabled his ship, cutting the transmission, followed shortly after by a laser cannon blast hitting the ship and the ensuing explosion.

"Rogues, I've lost my wingmate," informed Tycho with a sigh.

"Pair up with the _Falcon_ then Rogue Nine," suggested Luke.

"Copy that Rogue Leader, at least this wingmate will stick around for the rest of the fight…"

* * *

"As I have foreseen…" Victus turned, raised his saber and the blade sprang out in Kev-Mas' direction. "Are you Palpatine now? Hatching master plans and scheming in the background, was it intended for me to be in the hangar when the other ships blew up? Is that why I heard comm chatter of other ships showing up just moments ago? Was this a trap, to lure all your enemies and former allies into one place to wipe them out?"

"Relax, Victus," said Kev-Mas calmly, "Why would I seek to follow in the footsteps of the man who destroyed my life? I merely happened upon some abilities of foresight after learning a new force technique. The same technique that masks my force presence. The same technique that was instrumental in Caiphas failing to enslave me."

Kev-Mas sighed, and then continued, "If not for your help, I wouldn't be alive today and I most certainly wouldn't be free. Why would I take that help for granted?"

"Because power corrupts, and only those who have truly embraced that corruption and made it a part of them have control." Victus took a few steps back, and then slowly lowered his saber, "This false emperor is mine, he is a fellow inquisitor, a former brother, it is my place to put him down. You want your blood, take out his lackeys. Only when they are crushed and he lies dead at my feet will this day be done."

Just then, a familiar voice crept into Kev-Mas' mind, the same one that he keeps on hearing.

 _Vengeance is not of your concern. You want freedom and a thirst for vengeance will only enslave you even further. Your path is far nobler._

"I do want to see him dead by my own hands as well," replied Kev-Mas, "He attempted to enslave me again just as the Emperor only just a month after I was finally freed. I had not yet began to even get a taste of what my newfound freedom was like when he had attempted to take it from me… but…"

Kev-Mas sighed, and then continued, "He failed, and vengeance will only enslave me even further, to a far worse foe. Myself. I will allow you this kill, but I insist on you letting me assist you in getting it."

"Then tell me where he is." Victus could tell something was off, he still couldn't sense Kev-mas but for a moment he felt something around him, where he should have been. "Lead me to him, so that I may end this."

"I have no idea where he is," replied Kev-Mas, "When I reached out with the Force to find him, I found his presence scattered across the ship. This likely means that he is expanding his presence to the talismans that he is using to control his inquisitors as a defense mechanism. I guess we could start killing inquisitors until we find him though…"

"Or trust the word of a dead man." He motioned towards where he left the corpse. "Central CIC bridge, is it online?"

"My virus disabled all onboard systems except the hangar doors, turbolifts and life support," informed Kev-Mas, "He might be there and it the CIC is accessible, but I doubt he's doing anything other than hiding."

"Then it isn't a viable target, any one of them even Caiphas is no match for you, or I alone, but all together. Even a dozen Corellian Bee stings may kill." Victus motioned towards the fore of the ship, "Head to the secondary generator, rig the external airlocks to decompress as you do. They shall try and bring it online. Make a scene, be bloody. Draw the Inquisitors away from their master. We shall let the vacuum of space thin them out and I shall cut the head off this serpent."

"I like how you think," replied Kev-Mas, handing Victus a comlink, "But here's this in case any of us runs into any trouble. We'll also need it to make sure I don't accidentally space you. I'll be on my way."

* * *

"Gotcha!" replied Wedge as his targeting computer honed in on the smoking chassis of a TIE Defender. He thumbed the launch trigger and two proton torpedoes raced out towards the ship, detonating it upon impact.

"Nice shot Rogue Two!" congratulated Luke, "That looks like all of that group is eliminated, now let's move onto additional targets."

"Looks like our bomber jockeys are having issues with some TIEs getting in between them and that Interdictor," interjected Wes, "Amateurs… Should we give 'em some help?"

"Good call Rogue Five," replied Luke, "Lets move in for an intercept course. Pick off targets individually and give our friends some breathing room."

"I'll have the _Falcon_ assist them with their bombing runs," suggested Han, "The last time these torpedo tubes have gotten any use was when they were used on the Death Star over Endor. I've been itching for a chance to use them again."

* * *

Victus moved his way through the ship, using access and maintenance corridors in order to avoid the larger groups of soldiers. His amulet kept him masked, so he need not worry about any stray inquisitors finding him, but the quarters were small and cramped. He put himself up against an access hatch and pulled out the commlink that Colcha had given him. "I am about 300 meters away from the CIC, it's a straight shot from here, so if you could start your diversion I might be able to make my move."

* * *

Kev-Mas was already at the secondary generator, waiting for Victus to give him the word. "Acknowledged. Decompression of external airlocks is underway," replied Kev-Mas, his fingers flying across the console in front of him, "I would advise waiting to engage until I give the signal that the first Inquisitor has come my way so the diversion is successful."

Kev-Mas then inserted a disk to the console in front of him to apply an encryption protocol, effectively locking down the console and restricting access to anyone without said disk. Afterwards, he immediately logged out and ejected the disk.

As he was putting the disk into a pouch on his security belt, he heard footsteps.

 _This is where the fun begins_ , he thought.

"Victus," he said as he spoke into his commlink, "Diversion is set and I am about to engage the first enemy. You may now engage your target."

"Acknowledged." The man gripped the hilt of his saber tight, knuckles white. He still felt uneasy, something about Colcha had changed, and it felt, off, he couldn't grasp it. "Going ahead."

"May the Force be with you then," replied Kev-Mas, as he then put his comlink away and pulled out his lightsaber.

The footsteps Kev-Mas had heard earlier coming his way then grew louder, and eventually revealed an inquisitor entering into the room Kev-Mas stood in.

"Colcha… It can't be you," began the Inquisitor as he ignited his lightsaber, slightly taken aback, "Caiphas had you under mind control…"

"Maybe, maybe not," replied Kev-Mas, igniting his own blade, "Perhaps I'm a saboteur that snuck onboard using his likeness as a disguise."

"Or maybe I've been given the strength to cast aside my chains once and for all," he continued, swinging his blade swiftly in the Inquisitor's direction, "Which means you're doomed."

* * *

Victus closed the comm channel and slipped the link into his pocket before kicking open a service vent and dropping down to the deck. The only movement was of the shadows from the shifting emergency lighting as he turned towards the entrance to the CIC and gripped his saber in hand. Striding forward towards the door he held his hand out and with the force tore it from its hinges and sent it flying into the room. Now was the time to end this, and there would be no quarter given.

Victus was greeted with a mocking voice.

"Ahh…. So it seems that you live after all… A pity that you won't live much longer."

* * *

"You can find freedom in your death then," mocked the Inquisitor as he parried Kev-Mas' blow and sent a punch in his direction.

"It is not freedom, if I do not set the terms," replied Kev-Mas as he sent a kick towards the knuckle that was headed in his direction. A loud _crack_ could be heard as the punch connected with the armor plating in Kev-Mas' boot.

As the Inquisitor winced in pain, Kev-Mas swung his blade down on him, decapitating.

"The terms of my freedom do not include my demise."

* * *

"Spare me the gloating." Victus snarled, saber igniting. "Whatever your delusions of grandeur they end here." He moved the saber forward, aiming the tip straight at this false emperor. "Now you can die on your feet like a man, or sit and gloat with your last breath, I do not care."

"Do you know who you are talking to?" Caiphas shouted, rising from his seat and igniting the two blades of his lightsaber, spinning them as he approached Victus.

* * *

"Well that's that," stated Han over the comm as he slouched back in his pilot's seat aboard the _Millenium Falcon_ , "Their fleet has all been turned into scrap… well… aside from that super star destroyer."

"Leave it be for now," replied Luke, "I want to make sure that Victus and Kev-Mas leave it alive."

"But aren't they former big baddies?" replied Wes Janson, "I mean how can you be sure they can be trusted… we could just blast them like we did the rest of those oth-"

"Can it Rogue Five," replied Luke, "They may have used to be 'big baddies', but we _aren't_ , so that's exactly why we _won't_ betray them like that. I don't ever want to hear such talk from you again. Understood?"

"Uh- yes," replied Wes, stuttering slightly, "Loud and clear Rogue Leader."

* * *

 ****

 **Kev-Mas reached out with the Force to scan the ship for more Inquisitors.**

 ** _Hmm…_** **he thought,** ** _two Inquisitors left, and they're together. Two mynocks, one blaster bolt._**

* * *

"A puppet master, and I'm not referring to the marionette that stands in front of me." Victus held his ground, made no motion to attack or retreat. "Caiphas was gifted in nothing more than tomes, he had little true power, simply an excellent analytical mind. He was a coward, not a manipulator, but of course given the right push he could have been a useful tool. You found him to be one, and now you hide behind him."

"You're more clever than I thought…" replied Caiphas, "But I'll have you know, the shortcomings of this body I am currently occupying is the full extent of my disadvantage."

Caiphas continued, as he held his lightsaber off to the side and lashed out with a monumental display of lightning from his fingertips, hurling straight for Victus, "I am Lord Cronal, master of the Dark! All who do not bow before me shall be destroyed!"

* * *

As the two inquisitors entered the room, they were surprised to see that there was nobody there.

"Huh… that's strange," stated the first inquisitor, a female, "He's not here."

"Coward…" replied the second one, a male, "He must have ran off. Lets fix the damage he's done."

"Wait…" replied the female inquisitor, "Why would he leave if the airlocks are sti-"

She was immediately interrupted as Kev-Mas materialized out of thin air and ignited his lightsaber into her back.

"She's got a point you know," replied Kev-Mas with a smirk as he shoved aside the lifeless body of the inquisitor he just impaled, "But if you want to get those airlocks closed, you've gotta get through me first."

* * *

Victus raised a hand and the lightning seemed to strike an invisible layer of static, that the more it struck the more it built up. "We're being grandiose now? Alright." His hand clinched into a fist and with the sound of a thunderclap the barrier broke and sent a shockwave reverberating back through the air towards 'Ciaphas'. "I am Lord Victus. I am the Pillar in the Dark. That which has been corrupted beyond corruption," He spun his saber in hand as it's hilt expanded out into a full pike and he slammed the end down on the deck with a clang. "And I am your End."

"Beyond corruption?" replied Cronal, "We'll see about that… Go ahead. Strike me down. The only man you will have killed today is already dead."

* * *

"You slimy little coward," scowled the Inquisitor, igniting his lightsaber and spinning the two blades rapidly in a circular motion, "Surrender now and your death will be swift and painless."

"Surrender to what?" mocked Kev-Mas as he held his lightsaber in front of him, standing his guard, "A sole inquisitor serving a doomed false Emperor onboard a mangled flagship to a fleet that is destroyed?"

"Emperor Blackhole is _immortal_ ," replied the Inquisitor as he slowly moved towards Kev-Mas, "He is not doomed and this shall not be his last battle."

* * *

"And?" Victus asked, a question that was clearly rhetorical as he was suddenly inside the puppets guard, saber pike through his midsection. "I was a _High Inquisitor_." He reached up and grabbed the side of Caiphas' face the Taozin amulet falling away as Victus presence in the Force erupted out, reverberating through Caiphas and across his phantasmal link to Cronal. " _You cannot hide."_

It was then, that Victus saw an image in his mind, quite clearly. He saw a planet located far from the nearest star covered with a dense forest, and he then heard a voice. _Rhand_. Then the image faded to a black hole, and faded away.

* * *

 _Oh no…_ thought Kev-Mas, knowing full well what this meant, _Caiphas was a pawn as well… meaning I was a pawn of a pawn!_

This had angered Kev-Mas, his pride was insulted. He wasn't just made into a mindless servant of a false Emperor, but to yet another mindless servant of a man too cowardly to show his own face!

However, rather than let the rage consume him, he channeled it. With a scowl on his face, Kev-Mas reached out at the Inquisitor as he approached him with the Force. The lightsaber that was twirling in his hands slowly became turned into a weapon against him, as it sparked as if it were malfunctioning, and then erupted into a massive explosion, consuming the inquisitor and turning him into ash.

* * *

Victus pushed the rapidly fading puppet and would-be Emperor away, slashing his pike to the side, and rendering anything below the man's stomach separate from his whole. " _Rhand..._ " He whispered the name of the planet before stepping over next to the dying heap and looked down with disdain. "Do you still hear me Cronal? I hope so... because this is a preview." Victus lifted his foot, placed it against Caiphas' throat, and pressed down. With a _snap_ any life that had remained was snuffed out and the link Cronal had to his puppets broke. Pulling his commlink up he switched it to an open frequency. "The pretender to the throne is dead."

"He might be," replied Kev-Mas as he slipped the disk containing the encryption protocol into the console in front of him, closing the airlocks, "But I have a feeling that Caiphas wasn't the pretender. Did you kill Caiphas, or did you kill Blackhole as well?"

"Only the puppet, but the puppet master will come in time... I saw something of his fate... he is not ours." Victus turned towards the door leading to the control center. "Signal the Republic, tell them that the day is theirs..." Stepping into the control center he took a seat at a command station and began rebooting systems, just enough to do what needed to be done. "Now I have to do something, to preserve something for the future."

"Acknowledged," replied Kev-Mas, making his way towards the hangar bay, "I will signal the republic once I arrive at my ship."

Moments later, Kev-Mas was back at his fighter, and he opened a comm channel to the New Republic fleet as he started up its engines, "New Republic Fleet, this is Kev-Mas Colcha speaking. The day is yours."

 _But the ship isn't._ Victus typed away at the command console, adjusting levels of power, hypermatter to matter feed, sensor readings, ecm counter scans. All across the ship lights began going red, alarm klaxons blared. _Emergency. Emergency. Hypermatter Core Overload Eminent._ "This is Victus to all forces, an agent of Caiphas has apparently sabotaged the Hypermatter injector pods, the ship is going critical, I would suggest you move to a safe distance."

Behind the command tower a VT-49 decloaked, aft air-lock lined up with the hull. As victus stood up from the console the outer wall of the command room buckled and a shadow stormtrooper stepped in. "Sir... your chariot awaits."

"Good," tapping one last command Victus followed the trooper through the sealed breach and into the _Wolvesbane_.

* * *

"Well, the day _is_ ours, but it looks like the imps don't want to give us the pleasure of destroying the ship ourselves," stated Luke as his group of ships quickly made its way away from the hulking mass.

"Dammit!" exclaimed Wes Janson, "Why do they always gotta ruin all the fun? They censor all the good holodramas and ban all the good music… now this?"

"Is that really what motivates you Rogue Five?" replied Derek Klivian, "Entertainment media?"

"Yeah, you've got a problem with that Six?" replied Wes.

"No," replied Derek, "I just find it amusing, that's all. Out of all the things to get you riled up, it's getting your favorite sitcom taken off the air. But I guess I can't expect anything different out of you."

"Hey!" replied Wes, "I resemble that remark!"

"Don't you mean resent, Rogue Five," interjected Tycho.

"No, you heard me right."

* * *

 _What the kriff is he up to… We had the command center cleared..._ thought Kev-Mas as his fighter screamed to life and exited the hangar bay.

Getting a far enough distance away from the ship, Kev-Mas then realized exactly what Victus was up to.

 _Oh damn… he's good..._

Victus watched out the viewport of the _Wolvesbane_ at the Dreadnaught as they moved away. It seemed to list, and in reality two if it's drive engines have been driven to overload, just enough for a show, not enough to cripple the ship or send it out of control. Down below the massive craft, obscured from the view of the fleet a fuel pod detached and began to drift away. Holding out his hand, Victus gripped a control trigger tightly. "For the future."

Depressing the button the _Dominator_ seemed to elongate for a moment, and then a flash, a brilliant blinding explosion as the hypermatter pod ruptured. The _Dominator_ shot of into hyperspace as every sensor, and indeed every eye was blinded by dazzling destruction. "I suppose, if they couldn't have her, they wanted nobody to."

* * *

Back on the _No Traps Here_ , celebrations were underway, as typical fashion in the Rebel - now New Republic after a victory.

"Forgive me if I'm a little awkward around such festivities," said Kev-Mas to Luke, "We didn't really celebrate much in the Empire. Things were a little too tight laced for that. Plus the Emperor did have me on a very tight leash and I didn't exactly get to socialize much."

"Well that's a major bummer but you are our main cause of this operation. You don't have to worry at all." said Luke as he turned an eye towards Victus, who sat off alone in the distance, "What's up with him though?"

"I don't know," replied Kev-Mas, "Excuse me while I go check on him."

Kev-Mas walked over to Victus and sat down at the table in front of him.

"What's gotten to you?"

"A vision," Victus took a sip of the water he was holding. "Something of mine, to go with something of yours, though they will take us in different paths. It'll come in time, for now let us have this celebration, even if it isn't our style."

"Indeed we shall," replied Kev-Mas with a nod, "But remember. Even though we take different paths we shall always remain Shadow Guard. We shall always remain Sun Guard. We shall always remain _brothers_."

Kev-Mas offered a toast, "I think one might be able to toast to that."

"I think you just did."

Kev-Mas rolled his eyes at Victus

It was then that he was interrupted by a voice in his head.

 _I think it is time that I revealed my true identity. I am an entity known as Sekot. I form a symbiotic and telepathic bond with the planet of Zonama, which is more commonly referred to as a whole… Zonama Sekot. Either way, I have taken an interest upon you because you have great potential. You are an individual of great power, but with an empty slate. You are seeking a greater purpose, and I can give it to you. Come visit me in the Unknown Regions, in the Gardaji Sector, but please keep this meeting a secret. I will leave you with no more details than that, for the Force will guide you. I have much to discuss with you._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Pilgrimage to a Living World

 **Gardaji sector**

 **39:3:14 (4 ABY)**

 **0716 hours**

Kev-Mas came out of hyperspace in the Gardaji sector, as he began to muse over what this Sekot person was or why they were so interested in him.

 _I most certainly have never heard of anybody being in a symbiotic bond with a planet… but whoever this Sekot person is they sure are strong in the Force. They've got to be to be able to get in my head all these times without a talisman or anything… Why are they interested in me anyways? There's plenty of powerful people in the galaxy… what does a "clean slate" have anything to do with it? What the kriff does that even mean anywa-_

Just then, Kev-Mas experienced something he never thought he'd see in his entire lifetime.

 _We've got company…. Something's coming out of hyperspace and… holy hell this is huge… It's the size of a planet._

Then he saw it.

"It… is a planet?" he spoke aloud, not believing what he just saw.

 _Well, might as well check it out and see for myself…_

As Kev-Mas descended to the planet below, he felt a massive ripple in the Force. It was an intense feeling that made him feel at peace and feel intense emotions of an indescribable variety both at the same time.

 _This planet is strong with the Force… wait a minute… that's it. The Force will guide me… this must be where I need to be then._

As he flew through the skies of Zonama Sekot, Kev-Mas heard the voice of Sekot once more.

 _Welcome home, Kev-Mas Colcha. You see that mountain up ahead? Set down upon the uppermost outcropping._

Kev-Mas then flew towards the outcropping and set his TIE Defender down as instructed. Leaving his ship, he noticed that sunlight had began to creep in towards his view.

 _Wait a minute…_ thought Kev-Mas _We weren't in a star system before…_

 _We weren't,_ replied Sekot _We made a jump back to our home system since then. We had successfully picked you up, and had no reason to stay in that place anymore._

 _Right,_ thought Kev-Mas, as if he were having a conversation in his own mind… which he was, _I guess I'm still not used to the whole "planet making hyperspace jumps" thing._

Just then, the mountainside in front of Kev-Mas opened up, revealing a large cavern inside.

 _Come inside,_ commanded Sekot _I'm waiting for you._

Kev-Mas walked inside and while he saw nobody, he did feel a great force presence.

"Why are you hiding," asked Kev-Mas, "I thought you said you were waiting for me."

Just then, a loud echoing voice spoke in reply.

"I am not hiding. I am all around you."


End file.
